The second race in the 2022 ECA European Open Canoe Slalom Cup series took place in Ljubljana – Tacen, Slovenia, with last year’s winners of the race in this series in Ljubljana, Eva Terčelj, Giovanni De Gennaro and Matija Marinić successfully defending their titles.
Brazilian Ana Satila took the win in women’s C1 and extreme slalom, and her teammate Pedro Goncalves was the best in men’s extreme slalom.
Local fans were excited after the win of Eva Terčelj in the women’s kayak final. The 2019 world champion and last year’s European championship silver medallist was unbeatable on her home course. With a penalty-free and a fast run she had no problems reaching the top position, finishing more than five seconds faster than all the other finalists.
“I had three really nice runs during the weekend. More importantly, without touches which makes me very happy," Tercelj said.
"I would like to thank the girls as they made this competition really strong, which adds the pressure. This is very important for the upcoming season and good training."
Italian Stefanie Horn was second and German Elena Lilik third. Reigning Olympic and World Champion Ricarda Funk (GER) had two touches which pushed her off the podium to fourth place.
Like Terčelj, Italian paddler Giovanni De Gennaro produced the best final run to win the men’s K1 final. He was 1.24 seconds ahead of Slovenian Peter Kauzer, who lost the top position due to two penalty seconds, while Austrian Mario Leitner finished third.
“It’s unbelievable. It’s actually my favourite course," De Gennaro said.
"We come here every year, it is very challenging, we are really close with Slovenians every time. In order to try to beat them, you have to watch them, study the water and it’s so much fun.
"It’s another win in this place. It’s never easy, because everyone is super fast here. You need to be good at the right moment. I am really happy.”
The third paddler of the day who managed to repeat his success from 2021 was canoeist Matija Marinić. Croatian feels like at home in Ljubljana since he spends a lot of time training on this course.
“It always nice to win here. I had a really good race in the final," Marinic said.
"In the semifinal I also had a good run, but had one touch. I am very satisfied with the result. This result is very important for me, because I was not able to go to training camp in some warm place, so I stayed at home and I trained in Zagreb on flatwater.
"This is some kind of satisfaction that I am on the right course with my training and everything.”
Marinić was 0.90 seconds faster than Italian Paolo Ceccon, while Luka Božič winning the bronze medal for Slovenia. Olympic champion Benjamin Savšek was the fastest both in heats and semifinal, but his final run was full of mistakes that surprisingly pushed him to sixth place.
As ECA European Cup is an open race, athletes from other continents have the right to participate. Brazilians who came to Europe, took part in this competition and were unbeatable in the remaining three events of the competition weekend. In women’s canoe Ana Satila won the race ahead of German Elena Lilik, reigning world champion in this event, and Slovenian Eva Alina Hočevar.
Satila was also the best in women’s extreme slalom, where Eva Alina Hočevar took the silver medal and Ajda Novak bronze (both SLO). In the men’s extreme slalom event Pedro Goncalves won in the final ahead of two Austrians – Felix Oschmautz and Mario Leitner.
The next ECA European Open Canoe Slalom cups are scheduled for next weekend in La Seu d’Urgell and Krakow.
Nina Jelenc/ECA Media
