Hungary picked up another eight gold medals on day two of finals action at the ICF Junior and U23 Canoe Sprint World Championships, taking their overall total to 17 gold in front of home fans in Szeged, Hungary.
Leading the charge was Tokyo Olympic silver medalist, Adam Varga, in a much anticipated men’s U23 K1 1000, while the home nation won gold in four of the six Olympic distance medals contested.
The Hungarians won both junior K2 500 golds, and both the U23 and junior K1 men’s 1000 finals. Four gold medals in non-Olympic events also went to Hungary, while there were two gold medals each for Poland and Ukraine, and single gold for Spain, Canada, Croatia, Germany, China and Slovakia.
Varga and Australia’s K2 1000 Olympic gold medalist, Tom Green, were set for a showdown in the 1000 final, which quickly developed into a battle between two. But Varga, who led from the start, pulled away in the closing stages to take the gold.
“I’m very happy that I can win in Szeged in my last U23 year, and that I can compete with such good athletes like Thomas Green,” Varga said.
“There was on plan before the start, but I wanted to do a little bit easier before the start, and go full force in the second half. I felt good halfway that I could go faster, and I felt the same for the last 200 metres.”
The men’s K1 1000 junior final was also a close-run affair, with Hungary’s Zsombor Panyik holding off a spirited challenge from Spain’s Marcos Caballero. In the men’s junior K2 500 it was Bence Ozsgyani and Gergo Keller who took gold for the host nation, while Janka Kiss and Angelina Szegedi won the women’s junior K2 500 title.
Poland’s two gold medals came in the men’s and women’s U23 K2 500. Martyna Klatt and Sandra Ostrowska added the women’s gold to the K4 500 gold they won 24 hours earlier.
“This was a brilliant race, it is our dream and we fight for more,” Ostrowska said.
“We felt a lot more confident (after winning yesterday). We had a lot of excitement. We’ve been together for two years, we had our first start in a world cup here in Szeged. Yesterday I won my first gold medal, and now I have my second.”
Jakub Stepun and Bartosz Grabowski also won their second gold, the men’s U23 K2 500 adding to the K4 gold medal they were part of for Poland on Friday.
In non-Olympic events Ukraine won gold in C4 500 men’s junior and C2 junior mixed 500, Croatia’s Vanessa Tot won her country’s first ever ICF U23 canoe sprint gold medal by claiming victory in the women’s C1 500, while Canada won the women’s U23 C4 500 and Germany the women’s junior C4 500.
Slovakia’s Bianka Sidova was an impressive winner of the women’s junior K1 1000, China’s Li Li took gold in the women’s junior C1 500, and Spain took the men’s U23 C4 men’s 500 metre title.
Hungary’s non-Olympic golds came from reigning U23 K1 1000 women’s champion, Emese Kohalmi, the C2 men’s U23 and junior C2 1000, and the K2 500 mixed junior.
After two days of competition Hungary leads the medal table with 17 gold and 30 medals overall, ahead of Poland with four gold and 10 total. So far 23 nations have won medals.
The 2022 ICF Junior and U23 canoe sprint world championships finish on Sunday with another 18 gold medals on offer.
RESULTS – OLYMPIC DISTANCE EVENTS
K2 WOMEN 500 JUNIOR
- KISS/SZEGEDI (HUN) 1:43.70
- BUGAR/SIDOVA (SVK) 1:43.79
- DEL GRATTA/ROSSETTI (ITA) 1:44.23
K2 MEN 500 JUNIOR
- OZSGYANI/KELLER (HUN) 1:31.50
- BORUCKI/KAJDANEK (POL) 1:32.30
- SOMMER/BORKOWSKI (GER) 1:32.32
K1 MEN 1000 U23
- VARGA Adam (HUN) 3:29.31
- GREEN Thomas (AUS) 3:30.24
- ZDELAR Bojan (SRB) 3:31.15
K1 MEN 1000 JUNIOR
- PANYIK Zsombor (HUN) 3:34.76
- CABALLERO Marcos (ESP) 3:36.34
- FREDRICH Lukas (GER) 3:37.56
K2 WOMEN 500 U23
- KLATT/OSTROWSKA (POL) 1:41.52
- DALDOSS/ZIRONI (ITA) 1:42.61
- ROMERO/BRIONES (MEX) 1:43.70
K2 MEN 500 U23
- STEPUN/GRABOWSKI (POL) 1:28.83
- GONCALVES/CASINHA (POR) 1:29.15
- ECKER/SMALL (USA) 1:29.65
Pics by Bence Vekassy
