The first competition day of the 2016 ECA European Canoe Slalom Championships in Slovakia is wrapped up. Jakub Grigar (SVK), Nuria Vilarrubla (ESP), Benjamin Savšek (SLO), Jasmin Schornberg (GER) and Wiercioch-Majerczak (POL) are those who produced the best runs in their respective disciplines to finish the qualification runs in top positions.
Jakub Grigar (SVK) was not only motivated to perform well at his home course in Liptovsky Mikulaš, he also has a special goal in his mind. He wishes to qualify for the Olympic team which will represent Slovakia at this year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The final internal selection race for Slovak team is this European Championships.
“It was a pretty good run. I went into it knowing that I do not want to make a big mistake or miss a gate. I made a little mistake at gates 16 and 17. I was ahead at the time, so I have chosen the safest way to the finish,” said Grigar. Although it was raining most of the day, the young paddler pointed out the rainy weather does not pose a problem for him: “The sun that shines into your eyes might be worse.”
Grigar finished the first qualification run ahead of World Champion Jiri Prskavec (CZE) and young Austrian paddler Felix Oschmautz.
Women’s C1 qualification brought a surprise. 2015 European champion in this event Kimberley Woods (GBR) made mistakes in both runs, so she was left outside the semifinalists. Nuria Vilarrubla and Klara Olazabal took double win for Spain and Katerina Hoškova (CZE) finished third.
Reigning European champion in men’s canoe event Benjamin Savšek (SLO) was the fastest in Friday’s heats too. “I am satisfied. Today I did what I have planned – to have a clean run without penalty seconds. I will try to prepare as good as today also for tomorrow’s race and I hope things will go as smooth in the semifinals, so I will be able to advance to the final,” said Savšek. Sideris Tasiadis who was second last year at the European Championships again finished the run just behind Savšek, while Alexander Slafkovsky (SVK) was third.
Jasmin Schornberg (GER) finished the women’s heats in the top position. There were some other paddlers who set slightly faster time but had difficulties at the course and picked up penalty seconds, while Schornberg did not have any touches. Natalia Pacierpnik (POL) was second and Jana Dukatova (SVK) third.
Michal Wiercioch and Grzegorz Majerczak (POL) were the fastest in the last discipline of the day - men’s C2. They were really fast on the course, crossing the finish line almost two seconds faster than Ladislav Škantar and Peter Škantar. French crew Gauthier Klauss – Matthieu Peche was additional half a second slower than Škantar cousins. Majority of the favorites in this event advanced to the semifinal, but the Russian 2008 Olympic medalists Kuznetsov – Larionov were not among them.
On Saturday morning C1M, K1M and C1W will start in the semifinals, trying to get a place in the final which will begin at 13:35 CET. Team races in these three categories will follow at 16:20.
Complete results: http://canoeicf.com/results-pages/2016-eca-senior-european-championships
