Day 1 – Kayak Men prelims
by Philippe Doux
photos by Stef Pion/ valentin Grollemund
The first day of competition is on! Today was men’s prelims. The longest day…
Over 130 Paddlers were fighting for a spot in the top 30 to make it to the quarters finals. Fierce competition to say the least. As we write these lines not everyone paddled yet, but the big names are there! Nick Troutman (Can), Stephen Wright (USA), Peter Csonka (SVK), Billy Harris (CAN), Simon Strohmeier (GER), Mat Dumoulin (FRA) and many others pulled some amazing rides, scoring way above the 1000 point mark. But there are also the underdogs that are less known and expected. In that fields Japanese Kazuya Matsunaga, Finish paddler Mikael Lantto, and Canadian Thompson Kelsey are secured to make it through with really solid runs. More people are getting on the water as we speak…
Sunny skys, blue water and already quite a lot of spectators filling the stands. Simon Hirter and his team seemed to have pulled off an incredible job at organizing what is set to be the best freestyle worlds to date. Super impressive.
Highlight of the day is probably Ugandan born Timmy Flowers jumping out of his boat at the end of his ride, not to mention the French fans that have arrived in mass to spice up the stand party and drive the boys to go big.
The wave is great today according to most competitors (the wave can and will vary from one day to another…), though the surging green causing riders to flush occasionally will always leave a slightly bitter taste. But smiles is what we see most here. Also the ICF representatives are here for the week and are nicely surprised at the show and the atmosphere.
Here is a selection of some of the rides, for complete results of the first round check in a few minutes it will be there shortly. For technical reasons and because it is not over yet, we cannot pubmish scores and ranking, but will shortly.
In the meantime you can also check out the video of the day. LINK HERE.
by Philippe Doux
photos by Stef Pion/ valentin Grollemund
The first day of competition is on! Today was men’s prelims. The longest day…
Over 130 Paddlers were fighting for a spot in the top 30 to make it to the quarters finals. Fierce competition to say the least. As we write these lines not everyone paddled yet, but the big names are there! Nick Troutman (Can), Stephen Wright (USA), Peter Csonka (SVK), Billy Harris (CAN), Simon Strohmeier (GER), Mat Dumoulin (FRA) and many others pulled some amazing rides, scoring way above the 1000 point mark. But there are also the underdogs that are less known and expected. In that fields Japanese Kazuya Matsunaga, Finish paddler Mikael Lantto, and Canadian Thompson Kelsey are secured to make it through with really solid runs. More people are getting on the water as we speak…
Sunny skys, blue water and already quite a lot of spectators filling the stands. Simon Hirter and his team seemed to have pulled off an incredible job at organizing what is set to be the best freestyle worlds to date. Super impressive.
Highlight of the day is probably Ugandan born Timmy Flowers jumping out of his boat at the end of his ride, not to mention the French fans that have arrived in mass to spice up the stand party and drive the boys to go big.
The wave is great today according to most competitors (the wave can and will vary from one day to another…), though the surging green causing riders to flush occasionally will always leave a slightly bitter taste. But smiles is what we see most here. Also the ICF representatives are here for the week and are nicely surprised at the show and the atmosphere.
Here is a selection of some of the rides, for complete results of the first round check in a few minutes it will be there shortly. For technical reasons and because it is not over yet, we cannot pubmish scores and ranking, but will shortly.
In the meantime you can also check out the video of the day. LINK HERE.
2009 ICF Freestyle world championships
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