Slalom Worlds Day 1
by Lee Hart
photos by Courtesy of ICF
Hochschorners’s continue rule, hometown girl makes good
La Seu D’Urgell, Spain – Few if any surprises marked the opening day results at the International Canoe Federation Canoe Slalom World Championships.
In men’s C2, Slovakia’s seemingly untouchable Hochschorner brothers, Peter and Pavel, continued their domination of the class and as predicted, the countrymen cousins Ladislav and Peter Skantar gave spirited chase. What wasn’t expected was the second place finish by the Polish-duo of Plotr Szczepanski and Marcin Pochwala slipped into second with a huge comeback from 15th place after the first run.
In all, the 20 men’s teams advancing to semis represent 11 countries including perennial powerhouse Slovakia, as well as Great Britain, Germany and France with three athletes each.
In women’s K1 prelims, hometown girl Maialen Chourrat lit up the crowd with a sizzling run in the first heat that withstood decidedly better finishes for many of the top seeds in their second run.
France’s Emilie Fer, who comes to these championships ranked second in this year’s European Championships and finished 7th in Beijing, said she didn’t think there were any big surprises in the K1 women’s results. She said she fully expected Fer to finish well because this is her home course, even though she was only seeded 16th.
Fer also didn’t seem terribly worried about the order of finish today since for the next round, the clock starts at zero again.
Slalom racing continues tomorrow with men’s C1 and K1 and a women’s C1 demonstration event. Men’s C1 features 69 paddlers and the much-anticipated showdown between top seeds Michal Martikan (SVK) and Tony Estanguet (FRA). The action starts at 09:00 and is expected to finish around 16:00.
For complete schedules and results, visit http://www.worldseu09.parcolimpic.com
by Lee Hart
photos by Courtesy of ICF
Hochschorners’s continue rule, hometown girl makes good
La Seu D’Urgell, Spain – Few if any surprises marked the opening day results at the International Canoe Federation Canoe Slalom World Championships.
In men’s C2, Slovakia’s seemingly untouchable Hochschorner brothers, Peter and Pavel, continued their domination of the class and as predicted, the countrymen cousins Ladislav and Peter Skantar gave spirited chase. What wasn’t expected was the second place finish by the Polish-duo of Plotr Szczepanski and Marcin Pochwala slipped into second with a huge comeback from 15th place after the first run.
In all, the 20 men’s teams advancing to semis represent 11 countries including perennial powerhouse Slovakia, as well as Great Britain, Germany and France with three athletes each.
In women’s K1 prelims, hometown girl Maialen Chourrat lit up the crowd with a sizzling run in the first heat that withstood decidedly better finishes for many of the top seeds in their second run.
France’s Emilie Fer, who comes to these championships ranked second in this year’s European Championships and finished 7th in Beijing, said she didn’t think there were any big surprises in the K1 women’s results. She said she fully expected Fer to finish well because this is her home course, even though she was only seeded 16th.
Fer also didn’t seem terribly worried about the order of finish today since for the next round, the clock starts at zero again.
Slalom racing continues tomorrow with men’s C1 and K1 and a women’s C1 demonstration event. Men’s C1 features 69 paddlers and the much-anticipated showdown between top seeds Michal Martikan (SVK) and Tony Estanguet (FRA). The action starts at 09:00 and is expected to finish around 16:00.
For complete schedules and results, visit http://www.worldseu09.parcolimpic.com
2009 ICF Slalom world championships
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