The ICF canoe slalom competition heads to Krakow, Poland, this weekend for the second world cup of the season, with Great Britain’s Fiona Pennie, Germany’s Jasmin Schornberg and Australia’s Lucien Delfour among the big names set to make their first international appearance for the year.
The Olympic trio all sat out the opening weekend of the ICF season, in Liptovsky Mikulas in neighbouring Slovakia, which saw Australia’s Jessica Fox land a C1/K1 double, and German duo Sebastian Schubert and Sideris Tasiadis take the men’s K1 and C1 titles respectively.
Pennie competed in the K1 at the 2008 and 2016 Olympics, for a best result of sixth in Rio. Delfour finished 17th on his Olympic K1 debut in Rio.
Schornberg finished fifth in the K1 in London, and is set to compete in both the C1 and K1 this weekend, joining a long list of female athletes who are doing both disciplines in the lead-up to C1’s Olympic debut in Tokyo in 2020.
All four reigning Olympic and World Championship gold medallists will take to the water this weekend. Of that group, only Fox in the women’s K1 tasted victory in Slovakia, with none of the remaining champions finishing on the podium.
There are five world cups scheduled for 2018, culminating in the world cup final in La Seu, Spain. This year’s World Championships will return to the Olympic course in Rio.
