France's top contenders search for gold in C2M

icfteam

15 September 2015

World number one crew, Gauthier Klauss and Matthieu Peche (FRA) are still chasing the elusive World Champion title in the C2M; on Wednesday 16^th September they will line up against 39 other crews as they bid to take the 2015 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championship title.

Here is a run down of some interesting facts from the discipline ahead of the opening rounds at the Lee Valley Whitewater Centre:

Luka Bozic (SLO) and Saso Taljat (SLO) are aiming to repeat their 2014 success when they won gold at the world championships in the men's C2.
They claimed bronze as teenagers in 2009 and won gold last year. Since their world title, they have not won any major competition and only claimed one medal, bronze at the World Cup competition in Tacen (SLO) in May 2015.
They are poised to become the fourth pair to retain their world title in this event after Dieter Friedrich and Horst Kleinert who won for East Germany in 1957 and 1959, Manfred Merkel and Günther Merkel, also competing for East Germany in 1961, 1963, 1965 and Pavol Hochschorner (SVK) and Peter Hochschorner (SVK) who won in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011.
Cousins Ladislav and Peter Škantar (SVK) are the only pair to have won a medal in each of the last three world championships in this event, claiming bronze in 2011, 2013 and 2014. No other pair has won more than one medal in this span.
Gauthier Klauss (FRA) and Matthieu Peche (FRA) are looking to give France a record equalling eighth gold medal in this event at the world championships, tying East Germany.
The last French duo to win the world title in this event is Franck Adisson (FRA) and Wilfrid Forgues (FRA), in 1997.
Pavol Hochschorner (SVK) and Peter Hochschorner (SVK) are hoping to win their sixth gold medal at the world championships. They are already record holders with five gold medals in this event.
Coming in these championships, the Hochschorner brothers have won 14 medals in total at the world championships (all events), which is only topped by their compatriot Michal Martikán's 18.
The Hochschorner twins will be 36 years and 12 days old on the day of the finals, which means they can become the oldest world champions in this event. That record currently belongs to Miroslav Simek (CZE) who was 34 years and 165 days in 1993.