Five years after being told she would never be able to paddle canoe marathon again, Denmark’s Cathrine Rask was celebrating becoming a world champion at the ICF world titles in Romania.
Danish teammate Nikolai Gutjahr Thomsen took gold in the men’s U23 K1, Hungarians picked up two gold medals, while there was a popular home crowd win for Romania.
In 2015 Rask severely injured her arms in a junior K2 race at the ICF world championships. 12 months later the Dane was given the devastating news that she would never be able to paddle marathon again.
On Friday she not only paddled again, but she also became the women’s K1 U23 world champion after almost the perfect race over the 22.6 kilometre course.
“I haven’t paddled since I was under 18 so it was a really nice comeback,” Rask said.
“I have had an operation, but sometimes I still feel a little pain, but I try to do my best. They actually told me I could never paddle marathon again, so it’s really nice to be back because this is what I want, this is the most fun.”
Hungary’s Dorina Fekete stuck with Rask until the final portage, and South Africa’s Christie Mackenzie battled strongly before fading to third.
Rask had hoped to see her younger brother Thorbjorn Rask make it a family double by winning the men’s U23 K1, but when he was penalised 30 seconds for blocking another athlete it opened the door for Danish teammate Nikolai Thomsen.
“I was shocked when my mate Thorbjorn got the time penalty, I knew he was pretty strong, I thought he would be out there with me,” Thomsen said.
“When I saw he wasn’t, I knew I just had to paddle all I could. It’s definitely harder to go by yourself, but I’m pretty confident when I’m by myself because I’ve really trained hard over the past couple of months, I’ve got the endurance, so I just needed to do my best.”
Argentina’s Agustin Rodriguez took second place, while South Africa’s Ulvard hart finished with the bronze.
Hungary's Daniel Laczo won his first individual gold medal after leading for almost the entire 22.6 kilometres of the men’s U23 C1. Laczo last won gold as a junior as part of a C2 boat, and won his gold on Friday after a long run of minor medals.
“It’s a really amazing feeling because this is my first world championship in a single canoe, especially as this was my last race in U23, so it gave me a huge boost for the seniors,” Laczo said.
“I thought about this last year, all my bronze medals, and I have finally broken that. In Hungary we are very experienced and there are a lot of people racing, which is why I can only participate in U23, because I couldn’t qualify for the seniors.”
Spain’s Jaime Duro Pichel fought hard to keep in touch before fading on the final lap, while European champion Sergio Maciel took the bronze medal.
16-year-olds Sara Fojt and Laura Ujfalvi won the first gold medal on offer on Friday, surviving a tough tussle with fellow Hungarians Evelin Csengeri and Maja Horvath in the women’s junior K2.
Ujfalvi said having the second Hungarian boat next to them was a strong help.
“Maybe it made things easier because we can help each other,” Ujfalvi said.
“We are so happy to have won today. It was a very hard race.”
Denmark’s Sophie Blomgren-Hansen and Karoline Nielsen took the bronze.
Romanian brothers Adrian Stepan and Victor Stepan gave the home crowd plenty to cheer about with an all-the-way win in the men’s C2 juniors. The Stepans’ outlasted Hungary’s Laszlo Papp and Mark Bese Csanki, while Spain’s Daniel Grijalba Guerrero and Juan Gomez Rodriguez took the bronze.
RESULTS
K2 WOMEN JUNIORS
- FOJT/UJFALVI (HUN) 01:27:31.08
- CSENGERI/HORVATH (HUN) 01:27:36.65
- HANSEN/NIELSEN (DEN) 01:28:52.58
C1 MEN U23
- LACZO Daniel (HUN) 01:47:40.08
- DURO Jaime (ESP) 01:48:10.78
- MACIEL Sergio (POR) 01:49:54.23
K1 WOMEN U23
- RASK Cathrine (DEN) 01:47:37.17
- FEKETE Dorina (HUN) 01:47:45.96
- MACKENZIE Christie (RSA) 01:48:22.24
C2 MEN JUNIORS
- STEPAN/STEPAN (ROU) 01:28:53.35
- PAPP/CSANKI (HUN) 01:29:16.21
- GRIJALBA/GOMEZ (ESP) 01:29:20.26
K1 MEN U23
- THOMSEN Nikolai (DEN) 01:50:52.94
- RODRIGUEZ Agustin (ARG) 01:52:26.15
- HART Ulvard (RSA) 01:52:49.17
Pics by Balint Vekassy
