Kneblova sisters Klara and Tereza stole the show as the Czech Republic dominated the first day of competition at the 2023 International Canoe Federation Junior and U23 Canoe Slalom World Championships in Krakow.

The Czech squad won half of the eight gold medals on offer in the teams events, with junior Klara Kneblova part of two gold medal teams, and her sister Tereza one.

The powerful Czech team also won a silver and a bronze medal to sit well clear on top of the medal table. France picked up two gold medals, while Germany and Great Britain also won titles.

The Czechs took gold in both the junior and U23 women’s C1 teams event, as well as triumphing in the women’s junior K1 and the men’s C1 junior.

Klara Kneblova won gold as a member of the Czech junior C1 and K1 teams, repeating her performance from the 2022 junior world championships in Ivrea.

In the U23 C1 women’s race the combination of Eva Rihova, Gabriela Satkova and Tereza Kneblova went into the competition as defending champions. They lived up to all expectations by finishing almost four seconds clear of a French team which robbed itself of a gold medal by picking up three gate touches.

It was a fourth consecutive K1 U23 teams gold for the Czech Republic.

“We felt pretty good during the run, and I’m really glad we made it to first place again,” Kneblova said.

“I think we were a bit nervous because there were some tricky parts of the course, but once we started it was really good I think,” Rihova said.

The French men’s U23 K1 team of Leo Vuitton, Titouan Castryck and Anatole Delassus also started red hot favourites, with Delassus and Castryck having already won previous individual world titles. But they had to work hard to beat the team from Spain, who finished 0.81 seconds behind.

“We are really glad to have this win, it is a great opening to these world championships for us,” Delassus said.

“We felt a little pressure, because Titouan is junior world champion, and Anatole the U23 world champion, so it was a bit of a challenge. But we managed to put together a pretty good run, so we are happy,” Vuitton said.

Fellow Frenchmen Mewen Debliquy and Jules Bernardet successfully defended their U23 C1 teams title, this year teaming up with Yohann Senechault to take the gold.

In the women’s U23 K1 the British combination of Phoebe Spicer, Lois Leaver and Ellis Miller managed to upset the defending champions from the Czech Republic to win Great Britain’s first gold in the event since 2014.

“We’re so happy, this is a great way to start the championships, it was nicve to be able to put down a run that we were all so happy with as a team,” Miller said.

“As a team we were slightly disappointed with our performance in Bratislava (at the European championships), but we all knew we’d had a great training week prior, and we felt good.”

You can find all the results from the first day of competition here.

You can find the live stream of this week's world championships here.

RESULTS
Women’s U23 K1 teams

1. Great Britain     98.55 (2 seconds penalties)
2. Czech Republic 99.89 (4)
3. Slovenia           109.26 (8)

Women’s Jnr K1 teams

1. Czech Republic  100.61 (0)
2. Germany             104.95 (2)
3. Slovenia               110.36 (4)

Men’s K1 U23 teams

1. France             87.09 (2)
2. Spain               87.90 (2)
3. Italy                 91.04 (4)

Men’s K1 Jnr teams

1. Germany           89.00  (0)
2. France                91.50 (2)
3. Czech Republic 93.45 (2)  

Men’s C1 U23 teams

1. France            88.13 (0)
2. Great Britain 95.10 (2)
3. Italy                96.21 (2)

Men’s C1 Jnr teams

1. Czech Republic  92.79 (0)
2. Germany             94.38 (0)
3. France                  95.93 (4)

Women’s C1 U23 teams

1. Czech Republic  102.30 (2)
2. France                 106.28 (6)
3. Italy                      107.49 (6)

Women’s C1 Jnr teams

1. Czech Republic  110.69 (0)
2. Slovenia              116.38 (0)
3. Germany             122.80 (12)

Pics by Damiano Benedetto