France and Czechia shared the sprint titles between them at the International Canoe Federation Wildwater Canoeing World Cup in Mezzana, Italy.
High water levels meant competition finished one day earlier than planned with times in Friday’s opening heat counting as the final ICF Wildwater Canoeing World Cup results.
After winning four classic titles on Thursday, France then backed that up with another four sprint titles to round off an impressive performance in Mezzana.
Elsa Gaubert won two of those on Friday, claiming the women’s C1 title before teaming up with Eve Vitali-Guilbert to capture the women’s C2 crown.
Nicolas Sauteur claimed top honours in the men’s C1 while Correntin Combe and Clement Monjanel were the other French winners after sealing men’s C2 gold.
The first two titles of the day went to Czechia.
Klara Vankova secured the women’s K1 crown in a time of 43.09, beating France’s Lisa Lebouc by 0.31.
Kristina Novosadova also joined fellow Czech Vankova on the podium after finishing third with 43.57.
There was double kayak delight for Czechia when Vojtech Matejicek followed up Vankova’s success by winning the men’s K1 title.
Slovenia’s Nejc Znidarcic was 0.37 behind Matejicek in second, with France’s Augustin Reboul taking bronze.
Sauteur was the first Frenchman to win on Friday as he posted a time of 42.72 to seal men’s C1 gold.
There were just 0.17 separating the top three with Czechia’s Ondrej Rolenc and Matej Vanek finishing second and third respectively.
Gaubert headed a French one-two-three in the women’s C1, winning in 47.38.
She edged out Laura Fontaine by a mere 0.05 while Vitali-Guilbert claimed bronze to complete a hat-trick for France.
There was also a French clean sweep in the men’s C2 with Combe and Monjanel emerging victorious in 40.93.
Pierre Troubady and Hugues Moret missed out on gold by just 0.03 while Sauteur and Theo Viens picked up bronze.
Gaubert clinched her second gold of the day when she triumphed in the women’s C2 with Vitali-Guilbert.
They won in 48.25, beating Great Britain’s Emma Christie and Kerry Christie and Czechia’s Anna Vikova and Janna Strilicova who secured silver and bronze respectively.
Pictures by Kick The Waves
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