Men’s C-1
Nicolas Gestin (France) went quickest on the first run of the heats and went even faster on the second. He had over a two-second gap back to Adam Burgess (Great Britain) and Matija Marinic (Croatia). In the semi-final, Miquel Trave (Spain) would lead for a long time only for Gestin to take the win by over three seconds. Matej Benus (Slovakia) set the early pace with a 97.03 but it was beaten by Yves Bourhis (Senegal), only for him to be docked after the finish for missing a gate. A scrappy run from Benjamin Savsek (Slovenia) initially went fastest only to be also adjudged with missing a gate. Adam Burgess (Great Britain) would go fastest despite a run that was not perfect. Benus would go faster but penalties would cost him. Gestin started quickly, getting greens. He would take gold by a comfortable five seconds.
🥇Nicolas Gestin 🇫🇷
🥈Adam Burgess 🇬🇧
🥉Matej Benus 🇸🇰
Gestin was more comfortable than I could have imagined. Benus and Burgess were largely overlooked
Men’s K-1
Titouan Castryck (France) led Jiri Prskavec (Czech Republic) after the first heat. Castryck then went faster in the second run. It was a messy semi-final as paddlers struggled for a clean run and it was Joe Clarke (Great Britain) who went down fastest. To open the final, Pau Echaniz (Spain) would go down in 88.87 despite a penalty. Giovanni De Gennaro (Italy) would go down clean and lead with an 88.22. Castryck was clearly in the lead at the first checkpoint and the gap had grown for the second but missed first by 0.2 seconds. Clarke was the final participant and led at the first checkpoint. He would get caught on the strong down-streams and could only take fifth.
🥇Giovanni De Gennaro 🇮🇹
🥈Titouan Castryck 🇫🇷
🥉Pau Echaniz 🇪🇸
I got De Gennaro correct. Castryck I thought would struggle under the pressure whilst Echaniz was someone I did not consider a real contender.
Men’s Kayak Cross
Joseph Clarke (Great Britain) set the fastest time ahead of Pedro Goncalves (Brazil). Notable names to not make the quarter-final included Adam Burgess (Great Britain), Felix Oschmautz (Austria), Goncalves, Matej Benus(Slovakia), Miquel Trave (Spain), Peter Kauzer (Slovenia). The quarter-finals were won by Clarke, Finn Butcher(New Zealand), Boris Neveu (France) and Noah Hegge (Germany). Clarke would beat Butcher to the first semi whilst Hegge beat Lukas Rohan (Czech Republic) in the second. Clarke’s typically powerful start was blunted by Hegge and it was Butcher who got the lead. He would never look back and Clarke would never get the chance to try and make the move.
🥇Finn Butcher 🇳🇿
🥈Joseph Clarke 🇬🇧
🥉Noah Hegge 🇩🇪
I felt like Butcher would win in the final as he had looked so good in the lead-up and I mentioned him in my preview as my fourth-placed finisher. Hegge was more of a surprise.
Women’s C-1
Gabriela Satkova (Czech Republic) led the heats despite a penalty. Jessica Fox (Australia) was second behind Monica Doria Vilarrubla (Andorra). It was the same top three for the semi-final. Evy Leibfarth (United States) started the final and would take an early lead in the final. Elena Lilik (Germany) would go ahead by six seconds. Vilarrubla would have two penalties on the first two gates and a third came on gate seven. Fox would fly down the course and take an edge of four seconds herself. Satkova would take a penalty on the second gate but an upstream gate would cost her lots of time and she would miss out on the medals.
🥇Jessica Fox 🇦🇺
🥈Elena Lilik 🇩🇪
🥉Evy Leibfarth 🇺🇸
Fox was predictably dominant. Leibfarth was not someone I thought would get on the podium.
Women’s K-1
In the first round of the prelims Camille Prigent (France) led despite missing a gate. The second round was faster for almost everyone and it was Jessica Fox (Australia) who led ahead of Klaudia Zwolinska (Poland). The conditions for the final day were not great but Ricarda Funk (Germany) led the semi-final despite missing a gate. She was ahead of Zwolinska and Kimberly Woods (Great Britain) whilst Fox only qualified in eighth. In the final, Eva Tercelj (Slovenia) went into an early lead despite a few mistakes. Fox was able to take a massive lead with a 96.08, the quickest time of the day so far. Prigent would go into second until Ana Satila (Brazil) would beat her time. Woods was able to keep up with Fox at the first two time checks but began to lose time, finishing comfortably in second. Zwolinska would also go quicker than Fox at the first two checkpoints but in the final section could not keep the pace up and finished second. The final paddler was Funk who also led at the first two checkpoints. Going into the final section she touched a pole before missing a gate, taking her out of contention.
🥇Jessica Fox 🇦🇺
🥈Klaudia Zwolinska 🇵🇱
🥉Kimberly Woods 🇬🇧
Again I thought it’d be a Fox win. Funk was in the position to make it a clean sweep but faltered last under the pressure.
Women’s Kayak Cross
Camille Prigent (France) would lead the time trial ahead of Jessica Fox (Australia). Fox would go out at the heat stages. Other big names to not make the quarter-final included Corinna Kuhnle (Austria), Eva Tercelj (Slovenia), Klaudia Zwolinska (Poland) and Tereza Fiserova (Czech Republic). The quarter-finals were won by Elena Lilik(Germany), Noemie Fox (Australia), Kimberly Woods (Great Britain) and Angele Hug (France). Fox would beat Lilik in the first semi. The second was won by Woods ahead of Huig. Woods would lead out of the gates in the final only for Fox to get in front at the upstream gate. Woods would also get in trouble at the final upstream sending her to fourth but she would get back to bronze as Lilik missed a gate. Fox would complete a clean sweep of the slalom events for the family.
🥇Noemie Fox 🇦🇺
🥈Angele Hug 🇫🇷
🥉Kimberly Woods 🇬🇧
This remains the hardest slalom event to predict. Neither Fox nor Hug were mentioned as real contenders.
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