The last chapter of the 2019 Wildwater Canoeing season was written in China where the final World Cup race of the year was organised. Many top level European paddlers travelled to Asia to take part in the competition and the majority of the medals that were awarded in Nu Jiang were won by Europeans.
The race as usual consisted of two races – classic and sprint race. The classic race has had a mass start and was 17 kilometres long which was a real challenge for all participants as classical races nowadays tend to be shorter.
On both competition days French team dominated winning a total of twelve medals. Both in classic and sprint French paddlers celebrated a triple win in men’s C1. In classic it was a win for Theo Viens, Ancelin Gourjault finished second and Lucas Pazat was third. In sprint it was a podium for Tony Debray, Theo Viens and Etienne Klatt.
France also dominated men’s kayak classic race, where Maxence Barouh claimed gold medal, Felix Bouvet was second and Hugues Moret third. In sprint race Belgian kayaker Maxime Richard won by a tight margin of one hundredth of a second ahead of Nejc Žnidarčič from Slovenia and Hugues Moret from France.
In women’s kayak Italian representative Mathilde Rosa won the classic race ahead of Phenicia Dupras from France and Hannah Brown from Great Britain. Brown was the fastest in sprint race, where German kayaker Jil-Sophie Eckert picked up silver medal and Valentina Dreier from Austria finished third.
Both classic and sprint race in women’s canoe ended in the same order. Alba Zoe Gržin from Croatia was the best, Katarina Kopunova from Slovakia won two silver medals, while Teng Qianqian from China occupied third position.
Luka Obadić and Ivan Tolić from Croatia were the best in men’s C2 classic race, Slovak duo Skakala – Gewissler was second and Greeks Tsakmakis –Troiannos were third. In the sprint final French duo Viens – Klatt won the race ahead of Slovaks Skakala – Gewissler and Croatians Obadić –Tolić.
14.12.2019
