Final Days ICF Kayak Freestyle World Championships
Another blueberry day on Saturday was the perfect set up for the semi finals of all classes and some huge move during the Kayak Big Air Event with 38 paddlers throwing themselves over the special constructed ramp into the Aare river at night.
There were no mayor upsets at most semi finals except the K1 Men with Slovakian Peter Czonka, second at the last worlds, not making the cut into the Finals. Unfortunately Teva Athletes Kelsey Thompson and Casper van Kalmthout could not repeat heir incredible rides from the quarter finals to secure the ticket for the top 5 final on Sunday.
The finals on Sunday, with perfect conditions again, started off with the Open Canoe class. In the end it was Jeremy Laucks from the US taking the Gold closely followed by former World Champion Stephan Paetsch from Germany and Odei Areta from Spain on third.
Next up the K1 Junior Women with Nouria Newman from France schooling he rest of the field with an unbelievable score of 400 points, followed by European Champion Sandrina Hornhardt from Germany on second and local favorite Leoni Haeberling from Switzerland on third place.
The K1 junior Men class also was dominated through all rounds by a 16 year old - Jason Craig from the US. Through the entire event the Teva supported Athlete was dominating his class, sometimes his score would have him put in the top 3 of the seniors. No surprise there that he took gold with 200 points ahead of his team mate Dane Jackson closely followed by French Junior Sebastien Devred - well done Jason !
The next final K1 Women and it was Emily Jackson from the US, at last Worlds winning the junior class, becoming World Champion in her first year with the seniors, beating current World Champion Ruth Gordon from Canada on second and Teva Athlete Tanya Faux from Australia on third. Tanya had a slow start in the finals and managed to pull some amazing moves in her third and final ride, flushing a little early, who knows what would have happen if not… well done Tanya ! Unfortunately for Mariann Saether form Norway, after winning the semi finals, she quite could not find her rhythm in the finals, putting her in fourth in he end.
The same for German C1 paddler Markus Hummel, ending behind the bronze medalist Alexandre Bessau from France on the unlucky fourth place, only to be beat with the very last ride. It was last years World Cup Final winner David Bainbridge from the UK showing that had the tricky wave in Thun dialed in the best, leaving the Favorite Guillaume LaRue from Canada the Silver Medal.
Last but not least the Finals of K1 Men. Similar to the C1 class, again it was last years World Cup Final winner Nick Troutman who shocked everyone with the highest score of the entire event in his first ride - 1510 points ! Only Eric Jackson, 4 times World champion from the US, was able to get somehow closer to this amazing score in his second ride with 958 points, enough to secure the second place. Stephen Wright another great athlete from the strong US team finished 3rd, well ahead of Jules Gallais from France.
This World Championships were truly presenting Freestyle Kayaking at the best possible way, which certainly raised the bar for all future Championships to come. Among the 3000 spectators was the entire Board of the International Olympic Committee, including the President Jaques Rogge, who was very impressed after watching the finals - you never know, one day we might see Freestyle Kayak at the Olympics...
All pictures ©Seppi Strohmeier and Arnd Schaeftlein, Deckers Europe
Location: PostList
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