Six sensational days of competition were filled with moments to savour as Sydney, Australia delivered an International Canoe Federation Slalom World Championships to remember.
The Penrith Whitewater Stadium, a legacy venue of the Olympic Games Sydney 2000, was the stage for an action-packed programme as world champions were crowned and history was made in a thrilling week.
Here are five things that we learned:
Click here for startlists and all results from Sydney
1. Klaudia is new Queen of Sydney
Let’s start with Klaudia Zwolinska who enjoyed a magical time in Sydney, winning three medals in the space of three days. The Polish ace stunned the field – and herself – when she captured the women’s canoe crown. A day later, Zwolinska could call herself a two-time world champion after producing a dream run in the women’s kayak final. It saw her join Australia’s great Jessica Fox as the only two paddlers to complete the C1-K1 double at a single World Championships. After doing the extraordinary, Zwolinska then almost pulled off the ridiculous. The 26-year-old went for an unprecedented hat-trick and came close to doing so, making it through the rounds before securing bronze in the women’s kayak cross. It capped a sensational week for Zwolinska.
2. Underdog stories captivate Australia
With Fox having to watch from the riverbanks as she recovers from surgery, Australia needed a new hero to emerge. They did not get their “Robin Bell” moment like they did 20 years ago when they last played host but they got to enjoy two underdog stories that thrilled the Aussie fans. Kaylen Bassett was the first to get on the podium as he won his first senior international medal with bronze at the World Championships in the men’s C1. Kate Eckhardt also produced a moment to remember for the hosts. After finding life difficult in the teams events, Eckhardt delivered a stunning run in the women’s K1 final to bag bronze. Australia could have been celebrating a third medal only for a two-second penalty to deny Lucien Delfour a bronze. Delfour touched the penultimate gate to see him agonisingly miss out on a medal.
3. Four on spin puts Clarke in record books
Kayak cross is Joseph Clarke’s event when it comes to the World Championships. His record says so. Clarke struggled to make his mark on the ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup circuit this season after returning to competition following the birth of his second child and was disappointed to fail to defend his K1 title in Sydney. But as soon as Clarke sat on the start ramp, there was only going to be one winner. Clarke powered through the rounds before producing a dominant display in the final to win a fourth successive kayak cross world crown. When he gets motoring, no one is able to stop him as he roared to another historic victory. The completion of his four-peat coupled with the silver he achieved in the men’s kayak cross individual also sees Clarke move into joint first in the all-time list. Clarke joins Jon Lugbill of the United States as the most successful paddler in individual events with five golds and one silver.
4. Castryck and Gestin in league of their own
It was no surprise to see Titouan Castryck and Nicolas Gestin celebrating on top of the podium last week. The fearsome French pair have been awesome this season and ensured they turned that fantastic form into titles with two golds each. After helping France to teams success, Castryck and Gestin enjoyed individual glory. Gestin added the world crown in the men’s C1 to his Olympic title with a superb showing before Castryck handled the pressure of being strong favourite to win his first individual world gold in the men’s K1. Gestin has now won four successive international races to underline his dominance in the C1, while 21-year-old Castryck is seemingly getting better and better in a K1 after finding consistency this season. The duo look set for exciting futures and it’s up to the others to try to catch them. Their triumphs helped France finish top of the medals table with five golds and two silvers.
5. Surprise packages and beaming smiles
There were many standout moments at this World Championships as Sydney delivered a terrific event. Among those was seeing the joy on Kenyan Nicole Wambui Kariuki’s face after making her debut on the global stage. It was also fantastic to witness another ICF development camp participant in Waris Mills of South Africa advance to the women’s kayak cross heats where she was pitted against Olympic champion Noemie Fox of Australia. One of the stories of the World Championships came from Japan as they came within a whisker of capturing a shock gold medal in the men’s K1 teams event. Yusuke Muto, Yuuki Tanaka and Kazuya Adachi registered a time of 95.36 – which looked like it could be enough for victory. But they were beaten by Titouan Castryck, Benjamin Renia and Anatole Delassus. The race was so close the top three were split by a mere 0.10 as France edged France by 0.06 and Great Britain placed third. Despite coming so close to gold, the Japanese team celebrated this historic moment.
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