Germany’s Ricarda Funk and Slovenia’s Luka Bozic took gold on day two of the ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup finals in Spain, but both athletes fell just short of taking the overall 2018 titles.
Funk, who scraped into the women’s K1 final in last position, recaptured the form which saw her dominate the 2017 World Cup season to take victory in 102.68.
But in a dramatic finish to the race for the 2018 title, the German fell just one point short of Australia’s Jessica Fox, who finished last in the final after missing a gate and incurring a 50-second penalty.
Hometown favourite and 2016 Olympic gold medallist, Maialen Chourraut, was second in 104.45, while Great Britain’s Mallory Franklin was third in 105.34.
“I had a really good run and it felt good,” Funk said.
“Being the first run, I didn’t know where I would end up, so I’m really happy.
“This is a difficult course to get everything perfect, and you know all the other girls are so good. You have to have a very good run.
Bozic qualified fastest for the men’s C1 final, and held his form to take the gold in 99.84, just ahead of Germany’s Franz Anton, who had also scraped into the final in 10th place.
He said he felt calm, despite being the final athlete on the course.
“I have been in this position a couple of times, so I needed to just focus and do what I had to do,” Bozic said.
“I think my run was perfect on the first part of the course, on the second part I was fighting and did some small mistakes, but I’m really happy for this run today.
“I just focus on myself, otherwise I can’t do what I did today. I think this is the mentality of all the athletes.”
Anton’s time of 100.05 put him ahead of France’s Denis Gargaud Chanut, the 2016 Rio gold medallist.
Slovakia’s Alexander Slafkovsky went into the final as the overall World Cup leader after four consecutive silver medals in 2018, but had to settle for eighth on Saturday.
But with double points on offer it was enough to hold out Bozic, with Germany’s Sideris Tasiadis, who failed to make the final, finishing third.
"It's the third time I have won the overall World Cup, but this season it was really difficult," Slafkovsky said.
"But I had a very good season, with four seconds in five races."
Fox won the opening three K1 World Cup titles and finished second in Tacen last week.
“It’s all about getting it out of the way now rather than at the World Championships I guess,” Fox said.
“It’s frustrating and disappointing, my worst run off the season, but I’ve learned a lot this season. Today was a risk I didn’t need to take, so I’m really disappointed with my judgment there.
“It was a costly error and you learn from each one.”
The C2 mixed slalom was won by Czech's Tereza Fiserova and Jakub Jane, their second win of the season and enough to earn them the overall 2018 World Cup title.
France's Yves Prigent and Margaux Henry were second, ahead of Czech's Veronika Vojtova and Jan Masek. It was the same order for the overall season table.
The 2018 ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup finishes in La Seu on Sunday.
