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Representatives from twelve countries took part in the competition, including an Iranian athlete competing under the ICF flag, who is a member of the refugee team. Switzerland, Germany, Czechia, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Ireland, Ukraine, Finland, Algeria and ICF had its representatives on the start line.

 

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Champion Ricarda Funk from Germany took the win in women’s kayak final. Swiss representative Alena Marx produced a bit faster time, but two touches and four penalty seconds pushed her to second position. Funk, too, had one touch and was at the end 2.14 seconds faster than Marx. German paddler Elena Lilik took third position with one touch and 2.90 seconds slower time than Funk.

 

Lilik was again on the podium thanks to her excellent performance in canoe. In this event she reached the highest position, finishing the race 0.91 seconds ahead of Alena Marx, who won her second silver medal of the day. Czech canoeist Eva Rihova was third with a penalty free run, but 3.73 seconds slower time than Lilik.

 

Jan Rohrer made sure that one win of the weekend stayed at home, in the hands of the organiser’s national federation. In a strong final Swiss paddler won ahead of two Germans Noah Hegge and Hannes Aigner. The final was very tight as Hegge was only 0.12 seconds behind Rohrer. Aigner was 2.69 seconds behind.

 

Vaclav Chaloupka, Czech canoeist and 2021 World Champion, found the fastest lines in men’s canoe final. He was more than three seconds faster than his opponents. Liam Jegou from Ireland was second, while German representative Benjamin Kies took the third position.

 

The next race in the 2024 ECA Open Canoe Slalom European Cup series will be held on 20^th and 21^st April in Ljubljana – Tacen, at a venue which will host the 2024 ECA Canoe Slalom European Championships in May.