Olympic silver medalist Adam Varga has sounded an ominous warning to his opponents on the eve of this week’s ICF Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Championships and Paris qualifiers, suggesting he may be in the best shape of his life.
23-year-old Varga has been unbeatable over the K1 1000 this year, effortlessly winning gold at two ICF world cup events, and also over the K1 500 distance at the European Championships. To get to the world championships Varga had to defeat teammate, and Olympic gold medalist, Balint Kopasz over a series of brutal selection races.
He will start this week’s K1 1000 as a short-priced favourite. A top six finish will earn Hungary the important quota for Paris next year, but even though Kopasz will not be contesting the 1000, Varga is wary of the rest of the field.
“I’m feeling really good, I think the last weeks have been very good for me in training, I have been doing some very good speeds, so I’m looking forward to these races” Varga said.
“I hope that I can carry my form from the early part of the season here this week. Maybe I’m faster now than in Tokyo, but it’s hard to know. Maybe I’m in the best shape of my life. It definitely makes it easier because Kopasz Balint is one of the best paddlers in the 1000 in the world. But he’s just one, there are others who will be just as strong as they have been all year.
“I have to prepare my own way, and do my own things, and if I can do that I think it will be a pretty good race for me.”
Also preparing to show their best for possibly the first time this year will be the German women’s K2 combination of Jule Hake and Paulina Paszek. Their preparation and racing for most of the year has been hampered by a back injury to Hake, but the 23-year-old is feeling fit again.
She said the pair feel like they are back in the form that won them the K2 500 world championship silver medal in 2022.
“At the beginning of the season we were quite tired, I had my back injury and we didn’t train a lot,” Hake said.
“From week-to-week we got better, we have come back together and we are ready for racing, as strong as we have ever been before.
“We have the same energy. The good thing is, you don’t always have to be friends with your teammates, but this is a plus for us, because we are really good friends in this moment and we will continue to be like this.”
The 2023 ICF and Canoe Sprint World Championships and Paris 2024 qualifiers begin in Duisburg on Wednesday and run through until Sunday.
A media guide for the event can be downloaded here.
