Last Years Bronze medallist and Teva Athlete Michelle Ramazza from Italy on 2^nd place after the Semi Final, had a very unlucky final run and finished this year on 8^th place, only a second away from a medal - congratulations to him and Jakub Nemec (CZ) for his 12^th place in the Final. 

Mike in the main section of the course (©Arnd Schaeftlein, Deckers Europe)

Following parts of the official Press Release:

In a tight and thrilling final on the legendary Wellerbruecke course German kayaker Alexander Grimm won gold today at the adidas Sickline Extreme Kayak World Championship in Austria’s beautiful Oetztal. Grimm finished 68 hundreds of a second ahead of New Zealand’s Mike Dawson, who was followed by Jakobus Stenglein from Germany. Over 100 top kayakers from twenty-two countries, among them Olympic Champions and World Champions in canoe slalom, had travelled to Austria to compete for World Championship honors on one of the most difficult whitewater sections on the planet.

With the new race format, the day started off with 2 rounds of head-to-head heats. Number 1 raced number 48 to go through to the 2nd Final Round, number 2 battled number 47 to progress and so forth. This was repeated with the top 24 contenders. This new knock out system ensured that the midfielders have a fair chance to use good technique to get decent rankings, and it also ensured that the fast guys didn’t battle each other until the final round. As a result, the Super Final line up of 15 was indeed the best of the best. In a field of this kind, no one could afford to make even the slightest mistake.

Alexander Grimm (GER), the , glanced a little off a rock on the left straight out of the launch chute. Being strong enough to drag himself out of almost anything, it took only a few powerful strokes to get him well on his way. A slalom racer more at home in a super slick boat on a man made course than in a plastic kayak on whitewater, many competitors thought he would not feature in his first extreme whitewater race. When he reached the final 3m drop in 50 seconds, it was clear that they were all mistaken. 

Top contender and race favorite Andrew Holcombe (USA) followed Alexander Grimm. In true Holcombe style it looked as if he was taking it easy, but in reality he was flying downstream with a nice clean approach. He had a good run, and when he reached the last drop in 50 seconds, it seemed as if the slalom champion topping the rankings would indeed be replaced by a cut and dried kayaker. But anything can happen on Wellerbruecke, the smallest mistake can cost a paddler precious seconds. Straight after the drop Andrew stalled, got pushed slightly to left where he lost those few seconds. Not recovering fast enough, the timing beam caught him at 1:02.09. “Obviously I wanted to be on the podium. All my lines were good, but I didn’t paddle as hard as I could in the last section.” a disappointed Andrew observed afterwards. In fierce competition on one of the toughest whitewater courses in the world, athletes need to make every paddle stroke count.

Jakobus Stenglein (GER), ex slalom World Champion, arrived at the start with only two weeks of training behind him due to a broken rib. Despite this, he got off to a good start and took a slightly unorthodox approach in the core section further down the course: as he entered the turbulent core section, he a chose a line to the right, whilst most others kept left. Jakobus reads whitewater well, and trusting his instincts on which line to take in the core section paid off handsomely. His reward: 3rd place on the podium in a time of 1:01.87. He assigns his success to good base fitness and mental preparation: “Mentally I felt really well prepared, so I thought I could make it to the top. It was tough though, and I had to advance step by step to the top 15. The start was hard, but I won it in the last drop. I’ve had problems in the core section all day. It’s just 20m, but it takes your energy. But the most important thing is to have is an instinct for the water. This makes some guys more successful than others. So not every slalom racer could do as well here today as Alexander did. He has the instinct.”

Last on the Super Final start list was Mike Dawson. Whilst waiting to launch, Mike could be found with his eyes closed and gripping his paddle, making imaginary paddle strokes whilst visualizing his run. After starting too far to the right, this strong slalom paddler recovered quickly; the only other mistake was a touch of his paddle to a rock. Still, he made it to the top of the last drop in 50 seconds, and finished in a time of 1:01.15. His focus and mental preparation rewarded him with the 2nd place overall. “Obviously I wanted first, but just being on the podium is fantastic. I’m also really stoked for Alex. We’ve done slalom races together, but this is his first extreme race. So I’m pretty happy that he is here on the podium with me.”  All Results here: http://www.adidas-sickline.com/index.php?id=106