The kayak race finals were held at the World Aquatic Slalom Championships for the first time since 2014 without Czech representation. The only representative of the final program was kayaker Antonie Galušková, who took sixth place. The title was won by German Olympic champion Ricarda Funk.
Galušková, the only Czech representative in the final program, finished the race with a touch of the goal and was 3.39 seconds off the podium.
Olympic champion Jiří Prskavec, World Cup winner and reigning European champion Vít Přindiš and London 2012 Olympic silver medalist Vavřinec Hradilek were eliminated in the semi-finals in Bratislava. For the second time in his career, Frenchman Boris Neveu has become world champion.
Galušková, 20, was completely satisfied with her ranking on her debut at the Senior World Championships. “Of course the race had its flies, it was not perfect, but if someone told me yesterday that I would be sixth, I would definitely take the ten,” said the world junior champion last year. Unsuccessful events before the age of 23 tarnished her self-confidence.
“My coach had something to do with it. We had long conversations. I ride a lot better at these senior events because I don’t know what to expect from each other at these big events,” he said. -she entrusted.
Olympians Kateřina Minařík Kudějová and Lucie Nesnídalová failed in the women’s competition. Defending champion Eva Tercejlová of Slovenia and three-time world champion Jessica Foxová of Australia also failed to make it to the semi-finals.
World title defender Prskavec took 19th place in qualifying as the first Czech contender and after an unsuccessful run he placed sixth with a considerable loss to the best. In the end, only five hundredths separated it from the last ten.
As he progressed, however, he said goodbye well in advance and reconciled with him. After the games in Tokyo, he couldn’t get back to top form. “I started in such a way that I’m not the favorite here. I miss the second, two that I normally have at the start. There was little training and even the mental state of the race was bad.” , he admitted. . In the end, he was chased out of the last ten by the very last rider at the start, the Frenchman Boris Neveu.
Before that, the other two Czechs had not done well. Hradilek drove slowly and on top of that, received a 50-second penalty for a bad pass through twentieth base. Přindiš clearly moved into the places of advancement, but he did not put his head in the twenty-first and there was hope. The judges also gave him an additional 50 seconds after watching the video.
He was much more disappointed than Sparkler because, unlike him, he could have felt a life form. “I am terribly sorry, it is a stupid mistake which costs me to make the final and maybe some great successes. That way, I leave quite disappointed”, he lamented.
Many kayakers made mistakes in the semi-finals. Minařík Kudějová did not do well either, who lost a lot of time in the opponent’s twenty after hitting the eighth goal and, as well as at the European Championships and the Olympic Games, found himself in the gates of the final.
“I rolled well at the start, but then my hands were gone. I couldn’t be really busy and I lost everywhere,” she said after 15th place final. She had a cold and had a cold starting on Wednesday. “But I was warming up for those two days, I was really good today. But maybe it just stopped there,” she thought.
Nesnídalová’s race developed with hope, but she eventually lost and took 18th position. 2019 world champion Tercejlová dropped the stick on the ninth base with a paddle and received a 50-second penalty.
Australian superstar Fox, who rode last, was in the lead after the finish, but was later given a 50-second penalty for misfiring the twelfth goal. She didn’t put her whole head in the goal, which was confirmed by the referees in the video.
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