Hungary’s Balint Kopasz came to the fore as his Olympic rivals came unstuck on the first day of the International Canoe Federation Canoe Sprint World Cup in Szeged.
Kopasz will be the only paddler who got on the podium at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 that will compete in Saturday’s kayak single 1000m final.
Olympic champion Josef Dostal of Czechia failed to make it into the top two to advance to the final, while Paris 2024 silver medallist Adam Varga placed sixth in his semi-final.
While Dostal and Varga were unable to find top form, Kopasz, a bronze medallist in Paris and champion in Tokyo, underlined his gold-medal credentials.
Click here for live schedule and results from Szeged
Kopasz came from behind to get the better of Portugal’s Fernando Pimenta, while South Africa’s Hamish Lovemore and Australia’s Thomas Green starred in their semi-finals.
A new-look Hungarian men’s kayak four boat also impressed on the opening day of competition.
Bence Nadas, Bence Fodor, Levente Kurucz and Sandor Totka combined to get the better of world champions Portugal in Szeged.
“We have a good opportunity with this K4,” said Nadas after the quartet came together for the first time two weeks ago.
“We have two great K2 paddlers, so I hope we can manage to do well in the K4 final.”
Tom Leibscher-Lucz made a successful return to the German men’s K4, helping his team reach the final.
But the three-time Olympic champion revealed that he almost did not make the startline after being stuck in a toilet.
“I tried to get out but it was locked from the inside,” said Tom Leibscher-Lucz.
“I called the coaches with all the machines to try to work it 25 minutes before the race, so I said 'stop,' and cracked it open with a shoulder.”
With eight-time Olympic champion Lisa Carrington pulling out due to health reasons, Aimee Fisher came into New Zealand’s K4 boat.
It was Fisher’s first outing in a K4 boat for her country since 2019 and Olympic champions New Zealand were unable to seal a spot in the final.
World champions Spain were among those to make it through along with Poland and China.
Fisher followed up by securing her spot in the women’s K1 final where she is set to face a tussle with Poland’s Anna Pulawska for gold.
“I felt really good out there,” said Pulawska who came back to get the better of Australians Kailey Harlen and Natalia Drobot.
“I just thought about myself and was focused so I didn’t see the other girls but at the finish I saw the two Australians.
“I really like Szeged, it’s my favourite place to race. It was my lucky day.”
Czechia’s Olympic champion Martin Fuksa came under pressure in his men’s canoe single 1000m semi-final courtesy of a late surge from China’s Shengyue Wu.
Fuksa took it by just 0.06 from Wu to move through, while Hungary’s Daniel Fejes and Italy’s Gabriele Casadei topped the other semi-finals.
There was even less time separating the top two in the first semi-final of the women’s canoe double 500m.
Spain’s Angels Moreno and Viktoria Yarchevska edged China’s Anshuo Teng and Xina Jiang by a mere 0.03.
Hungarian stars Agnes Anna Kiss and Bianka Nagy won by more than half a second to overcome Katie Vincent and Zoe Wojtyk of Canada in the other semi-final.
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