Hosts Germany bounced back in style in front of their home crowd by winning the men’s kayak four 500m crown at the International Canoe Federation Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Cup in Brandenburg.
Just one week after missing out on a medal at the World Cup opener in Szeged, the German Olympic champions came out on top.
China secured victory in the women’s K4 500m, while Hungary’s Agnes Anna Kiss and Bianka Nagy clinched women’s canoe double 500m gold and Czechia’s Martin Fuksa sealed top spot in the men’s canoe single 1000m.
It was a three-way battle for the men’s K4 500m title with Germany, Hungary and Australia tussling for top spot.
Click here for live startlists and results from Brandenburg
Germany’s Max Rendschmidt, Max Lemke, Jacob Schopf and Tom Liebscher-Lucz triumphed in 1:20.42.
Hungary took silver in 1:20.57, just 0.15 off Germany, while Australia picked up bronze in 1:20.69.
“It was a great race and a good comeback after the last World Cup,” said Lemke.
“We know the venue here pretty well so I think it was an advantage for us.
“What happened here this weekend gives us confidence in the boat and am looking forward to the next three competitions here.
“We adjusted a few things in the boat after last weekend.
“We tried a few things because we know that we can do better and it worked out pretty well.
“We felt the pressure as you have the Olympic Ranking points in mind.
“I think all the teams are trying very hard already at the beginning of the season.
“That was a super fast race and a super hard battle with Hungary and Australia and I am happy that we edged them out by a little bit.”
There was very little between China and Spain in Szeged with the former triumphing by just 0.02.
This time, the Chinese team made up of Shimeng Yu, Mengdie Yin, Nan Wang and Siyu Shen dominated the race from start to finish, holding the top speed to win by 1.18 seconds.
They triumphed in 1:32.77 as Spain came second in 1:33.95 and Germany delivered home bronze in 1:34.81.
“We are very excited,” said Wang.
“This is a new team so the last World Cup was our first time together so we did some adjustments and you can see what we produced.”
Kiss and Nagy came from behind to snatch women’s C2 500m victory from China’s Mengya Sun and Yanan Ma.
The Chinese duo thought they had won it when they crossed the finish line only to find out that Kiss and Nagy had clinched the title by 0.11.
Kiss and Nagy took the win in 1:55.57 as Sun and Ma sealed silver in 1:55.34 and Spain’s Angels Moreno and Viktoria Yarchevska bagged bronze in 1:56.34.
“It was a very hard race but we just focused our 500m. The focus was the key to the gold,” said Kiss.
“There are very strong C2s compared to years ago so I think women’s canoe has improved a lot over the years so we also need to improve to perform well at World Cups and World Championships.”
Fuksa reasserted his dominance in the men’s canoe single 1000m as he powered to the title.
After sharing the gold medal with Individual Neutral Athlete Zakhar Petrov, Fuksa ensured there was only one winner in Brandenburg.
Fuksa stormed to the title in3:49.82 as China’s Shengyue Wu came through for silver in 3:50.81 and Petrov sealed bronze in 3:50.82.
“I am really happy to get another gold medal,” said Fuksa.
“There were good conditions today, not like yesterday, so I am really happy.
“It wasn’t easy. I was very nervous today as I really wanted to win.”
Pictures by Ute Freise
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