Slovakia’s Emanuela Luknarova and France’s Jules Bernardet navigated difficult conditions to top the canoe heats as strong winds brought surprises on the water and disrupted competition at the International Canoe Federation Canoe Slalom World Cup in Ivrea.
Unpredictable gusts made life hard for paddlers on the Italian course and resulted in the kayak semi-finals and finals being moved to Saturday.
While some paddlers, including Olympic medallists, came unstuck in the tricky weather, others adapted brilliantly to the ever-changing wind.
The start of the canoe heats was also delayed due to the conditions before Luknarova and Bernardet finished first in the respective women’s and men’s heats.
Luknarova showed great skill to avoid any gate touches as she qualified fastest to the semi-finals with a time of 97.61.
“I didn’t mind that the start was postponed as that gave me more time to go around the course and take some time to think how I will do the combinations,” said Luknarova.
“I know it was windy but it’s quite often like this where I am from so I didn’t mind some wind.
“I was trying to keep my focus.
“I was looking at how the gates were moving and I tried to adjust to it but I think it went okay.”
Luknarova is back competing on the World Cup stage after missing the events in Augsburg, Prague and Krakow due to having her appendix removed.
“I am really happy and satisfied that I managed to do a good run from top to bottom,” said the 22-year-old.
“I felt I was in good form at the start of the season but I had surgery so I could not compete in the first half of the World Cups.
“I raced at the Junior World Championships and Junior European Championships where I went okay so I knew I could race well here and I am happy that it went so well in the qualifications.”
Austria’s Viktoria Wolffhardt produced a superb run to rank second, 1.34 behind Luknarova, while Italy’s Marta Bertoncelli impressed on home waters to place third, a further 1.84 back.
The top six also included Great Britain’s Mallory Franklin, Spain’s Nuria Vilarrubla and Switzerland’s Alena Marx.
The conditions threw up plenty of surprises as Germany’s Elena Lilik and United States’ Evy Leibfarth, who claimed silver and bronze respectively at the Paris 2024 Olympics, failed to make it through to the semi-finals.
Top-ranked Andrea Herzog of Germany and Poland’s Klaudia Zwolinska, who achieved Olympic silver in kayak, also did not advance to the next stage.
Bernardet continued his fine World Cup form to top the standings in the men’s heats in 83.13 - 1.68 faster than second-placed Vaclav Chaloupka of Czechia.
The Frenchman is looking to win his second successive World Cup title after triumphing in Krakow in June.
“I had a good feeling and felt in good form,” said Bernardet.
“Yes, the conditions were not easy but I just tried to make my best run.
“I did my training in Vaires-sur-Marne during the winter where it was very windy. That was a little advantage for me.”
France’s Yohann Senechault pulled off a terrific run to seal third spot ahead of Czechia’s Jiri Prskavec and Italy’s Raffaello Ivaldi.
Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Benjamin Savsek of Slovenia is also in the top six, finishing almost three seconds behind Bernardet.
It is set to be a packed and exciting schedule on Saturday with the semi-finals and finals in both the canoe and kayak competitions.
For the results and competition schedule, click here.
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