Hungary picked up three gold medals while there were also wins for Lithuania, Italy, Sweden and Portugal in non-Olympic events on the final day of the ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup in Szeged, Hungary, on Sunday.
Ignas Navakauskas is expected to be a member of Lithuania’s men’s K4 crew in Paris, and showed he has good speed with gold in the men’s K1 200.
“It was a very fast race, I am an old man but I’m going faster than ever before,” Navakauskas said.
“It’s coming up to the Olympic Games, so my team and I will be ready. I feel strong and I feel good now.”
Agnes Anna Kiss is another fighting for Olympic selection, but the Hungarian did her chances no harm with victory in the women’s C1 500.
“We will have selection races in June, so this is a big win for me and I’m so motivated for the next races.”
Hungary also picked up two golds in the 5000 metre races. Zsofia Kisban followed her C1 1000 win with victory in the longer canoe race, while Balazs Adolf gave a confident performance to win the men’s canoe race.
In the women’s K1 5000 it was Sweden’s Melina Anderson once again showcasing her outstanding long distance racing credentials, while in the men’s K1 5000 Portugal’s Fernando Pimenta showed the form that has delivered him two world titles.
The gold added to the bronze Pimenta won in the K1 1000 earlier in the day.
“I need to practice a little bit more my portages, but I’m feeling good on the water and I think that is the most important thing,” Pimenta said.
“The 1000 we saw a lot of competitive guys. We are in the Olympic year, and I think we are in a very good position to put on a good show. I’m happy because it was a medal, and I don’t think I have lost a medal since 2015 in this race. I need to work a little harder before Paris.”
Gabriele Casadei and Carlo Tacchini have their sights set on C2 500 glory in Paris, but after a disappointing race in Szeged, had to turn their attention to the C2 1000. The Italians regained their form with an impressive win.
“We came from a tough weekend, we’re not completely satisfied about our 500, so we freally wanted to at least bring home a medal, and a gold is special,” Tacchini said.
“We just don’t want to go to Paris to participate, we want to be competitive, we need to improve our performance. We’re definitely not happy, we are disappointed where we are in the 500, so this gold is okay, but not what our big focus is.”
Pics by Bence Vekassy
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