The most consistent women’s K1 slalom paddler for the past five years is yet to win an Olympic gold, and the reigning Games champion faces a tough challenge from her own teammate to earn the ticket to Paris next year.
Such is the strength and depth of women’s kayak. It’s an event that has thrown up surprises and shocks, and is sure to do so again in the French capital one year from today.
Twice athletes have won back-to-back gold medals in the women’s kayak slalom at the Olympic Games, and in Paris next year Germany’s Ricarda Funk will be aiming to become the third.
The German made the most of her first Olympic Games in Tokyo, showing she had overcome the nerves that had kept her of the Olympic team in Rio to paddle her way to an emotional gold.
In doing so she became the second German women’s K1 gold medalist. Elisabeth Micheler took gold when slalom returned to the Games program in Barcelona. 20-year-old Angelika Bahmann won gold for East Germany at slalom’s Olympic debut in Munich in 1972, making her our youngest ever women’s K1 gold medalist.
But Funk faces a big challenge once again to get to the Olympics. Her teammate, Elena Lilik, has emerged as one of the most exciting young paddlers in recent seasons, and has already won a world cup gold this year. Each country can only send one athlete to each event, so either Funk or Lilik will miss out.
Several other countries will face similar challenges. Great Britain’s Mallory Franklin and Kimberley Woods have both shown they are capable of winning the big races, but only one will get the chance for K1 glory in Paris. Woods earned the ticket in Tokyo.
Stepanka Hilgertova and Elena Kaliska are the two biggest names in the history of women’s Olympic K1. Hilgertova won gold for Czechoslovakia in 1996, and then again for the Czech Republic in 2000.
And then it was the turn of Slovakia’s Kaliska, triumphing in 2004 and 2008. In 2008 Kaliska was 36-years-old, making her our oldest women’s K1 gold medalist. Kaliska had hoped to bring up three in a row in London, but was beaten in Slovakian qualification by Jana Dukatova.
France’s Emilie Fer (2012) and Spain’s Maialen Chourraut (2016) are the other K1 gold medalists. Chourraut was 33 when she took the glory in Rio, and 38 when she won silver in Tokyo – the oldest ever women’s slalom medal winner. If Chourraut gets to Paris, she will be competing as a 41-year-old. It will also be her fifth Olympics. New Zealand’s Luuka Jones, a silver medalist in Rio, is also hoping to make a fifth Games next year.
Chourraut and Australia’s Jessica Fox lead the table with the most Olympic medals, at three each. Australia has won the most women’s K1 Olympic medals, with five, but is yet to win a gold.
Away from the Olympics, Fox has been dominating the discipline. She was overall world cup champion in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022. This year Fox has already won two of the three K1 world cup finals contested.
Lilik won world cup gold in Augsburg, and took bronze behind Fox in Tacen.
The Olympic final of the women’s K1 will be held one year from today.
