Spain’s Miquel Trave and Slovenia’s Eva Hocevar have identified themselves as stars of the future with slashing wins at the 2018 ICF U23 and Junior Canoe Slalom World Championships in Italy on Saturday.
Trave and Hocevar blew away their respective junior fields, with Trave winning the men’s C1 by almost four seconds, and Hocevar was more than three seconds quicker than the next best in the women’s junior K1 in Ivrea.
Trave posted a time of 81.98, quick enough to win bronze in the U23, and 3.84 seconds faster than Italy’s Flavio Micozzi.
“It was a really good run, a great final,” Trave said.
“When I was warming up I felt a little bit nervous, but during my semi-final and my final I was able to calm down.
“It was a hard course, but when I did it in the semi-final I could see the good points to pay attention, and in the final it was fine.”
Hocevar, a regular at senior canoe slalom World Cups, was able to use her experience to tame the difficult Ivrea course.
Her time was 89.67, well ahead of Slovakia’s Sona Stanovska’s 93.23.
“It was amazing, I didn’t expect it, but it’s happened,” Hocevar said.
“I’ve been training a lot for this. I’m young, but I’ve raced and watched a lot of the older athletes, so this helped me of course.
“I was nervous before the final, but I told myself I needed to be calm.”
RESULTS
MEN’S C1 JUNIORS
- TRAVE Miquel (ESP) 81.98 (0)
- MICOZZI Flavio (ITA) 85.82 (0)
- GESTIN Nicolas (FRA) 86.23 (2)
WOMEN’S K1 JUNIORS
- HOCEVAR Eva Alina (SLO) 89.67 (0)
- STANOVSKA Sona (SVK) 93.23 (0)
- BRAENDLE Naemi (SUI) 94.20 (4)
