Host nation Poland enjoyed a day out in non-Olympic finals on day two of the International Canoe Federation Canoe Sprint World Cup on Saturday, picking up three of the six gold medals on offer.
The Poles picked up wins in the women’s K1 200, the women’s K2 200, and the men’s C4 500 to add to the gold they won in the women’s K4 500. There were also gold medals for Latvia in the men’s K1 200, Italy in the men’s C2 1000, and China in the women’s C2 200.
Katarzyna Kolodziejczyk began the Polish gold rush with victory in the women’s K1 200, ahead of Denmark’s Frederikke Matthiesen and Croatia’s Anamaria Govorcinovic. Martyna Klatt and Helena Wisniewska made it two with a win in the women’s K2 200, ahead of Italy’s Susanna Cicali and Francesca Genzo and Austria’s Adriana and Ana-Roxana Lehaci.
Poland finished first and second in the men’s C4 500, with Ukraine taking the bronze.
Latvia’s Roberts Akmens, a former K1 200 U23 world champion, outlasted Sweden’s Petter Menning and Ukraine’s Oleksandr Zaitsev.
“I had a really good start, and a good middle, and then I just had to hold on because Petter was coming at me pretty fast,” Akmens said.
“I really love the 200, it’s a really fun race and I always enjoy it. But this year I’m focussed more on the K4. We have a good team, but we had an injury so now we have to change our team.”
The Italian combination of Nicolae Craciun and Daniele Santini won the men’s C2 1000, ahead of China’s Yuebin Yu and Chenwei Yu and Poland’s Dominik Nowacki and Lukasz Witkowski.
China picked up the final gold medal on offer on Saturday, with Changwen Shuai and Wenjun Lin finishing ahead of Germany's Lisa Jahn and Hedi Kliemke, with C2 500 Olympic and world champions Shixiao Xu and Mengya Sun from China taking the bronze.
After day one of finals host nation Poland sits on top of the medal table with four gold and seven medals overall, ahead of Ukraine with two gold and two bronze, and China with one gold, three silver and two bronze. Thirteen countries won medals on Saturday.
By Bence Vekassy
