Olympic and World Champions dominated the podium as the first day of finals concluded at the 2016 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup in Duisburg, Germany.

Olympic champions Lisa Carrington (NZL, K1W 200m), Sebastian Brendel (GER C1M 1000m) and the duo of Franziska Weber and Tina Dietze (GER, K2W 500m) were among the batch of 10 golds awarded as the favourable tailwind delivered some exceptional racing.

For both Brendel and the partnership of Weber and Dietze, this victory will provide a pleasing omen, as both took wins four years ago at the World Cup in Duisburg and followed with Olympic gold in London later that season.

The victory also assured the German trio of selection for the Rio Games.

“It was a really tough race,” commented Brendel.

“The two contenders on my sides had a really fast start so it was not easy. Now my ticket to Rio is confirmed, that's a very good thing.”

Strangely, Brendel’s main rival, Isaquias Queiroz Dos Santos (BRA), pulled-up in a bizarre fashion mid-way through the race and took a swim rather than a stroke just 200 meters from the line and failed to finish.

This is the second time Dos Santos has been in the water after leading the German. The first was at the 2014 Moscow World Championships when the Brazilian fell in just shy of the line and went from a certain gold to nothing in split second.



Carrington Supreme 


For Carrington, her vice-like grip on the K1W 200m continues to tighten as she moves ever closer to her dream of a second Olympic gold.

“It's really good practice, going through the nerves and the process of racing,” said the New Zealander following her victory.


“The race went  well, I had to work hard to grab a lot of water because of the tail wind that is pushing us quite strongly."

Perhaps unnerving for her rivals, Carrington has added another element to her paddling over the off-season, endurance.

“During the winter I have been able to get in a lot of endurance training. Because I am training for two events [K1W 200m and 500m] I need to have the fitness to back up for both.”



Poulsen Flying 


Following his World Championship victory in the K1M 1000m at the tail end of last season in Milan, Denmark’s René Holten Poulsen (DEN) appears to have grown in confidence; a confidence that was reflected in today’s victory as he eased over the line ahead of world-class opposition to win a 33rd medal at international level since the 2012 Games.

Seemingly underwhelmed after his victory, Poulsen said, “I go out leading and just keep going when the others slow down, I guess that looks good for the spectators but I was lucky it was a tail wind today.”

“I came here aiming at top five, top three if i did well so I surprised myself today.”

Spain’s Duos Deliver 


Spain picked up two golds over the short 200m dash with Saúl Craviotto and Cristian Toro winning the K2M 200m; then Antoni Segura and Alfonso Benavides following with the C2M 200m title.

Portugal’s Beatriz Gomes and Helena Rodrigues out sprinted a strong Polish duo to claim gold in the K2W 200m. However, Poland did claim gold earlier when Edyta Dzieniszewska out-pulled Svetlana Chernihovskaya (RUS) in the K1W 1000m.

Belarus' Vitaliy Bialko and Raman Piatrushenka were victorious in the K2M 1000m; whilst Katie Vincent (CAN) maintained her nations domination over the C1W 200m.

 
K1 W 1000m
Gold – Edyta Dzieniszewska (POL)
Silver – Svetlana Chernihovskaya (RUS)
Bronze – Dariya Baicheuskaya (BLR)

C1 M 1000m
Gold – Sebastian Brendel (GER)
Silver – Serghei Tarnovschi (MDA)
Bronze – Pavlo Altukhov (UKR)

K1 M 1000m
Gold – René Holten Poulsen (DEN)
Silver – Athuur Peters (BEL)
Bronze – Max Hoff (GER)        

K2 M 200m
Gold –  Saúl Craviotto and Cristian Toro (ESP)
Silver – Sándor Totka and Péter Molnar (HUN)
Bronze – Nebojsa Grujic and Marko Novakovic (SRB)

K1 W 200m
Gold – Lisa Carrington (NZL)
Silver – Inna Osipenko-Rodomska (AZE)
Bronze – Marta Walczykiewicz (POL)

C1 W 200m
Gold – Katie Vincent (CAN)
Silver – Olesia Romasenko (RUS)
Bronze – Katie Reid (GBR)

K2 W 500m
Gold – Franziska Weber and Tina Dietze (GER)
Silver – Karolina Naja and Beata Mikolajczyk (POL)
Bronze – Sabrina Hering and Steffi Kriegerstein (GER)

K2 M 1000m
Gold – Vitaliy Bialko and Raman Piatrushenka (BLR)
Silver – Marko Tomicevic and Milenko Zoric (SRB)
Bronze – Emanuel Silva and João Ribeiro (POR)    

C2 M 200m
Gold – Antoni Segura and Alfonso Benavides (ESP)
Silver – Dzmitry Rabchanka and Dzianis Makhkai (BLR)
Bronze – Erlon De Souza Silva and Ronilson Matias De Oliveira (BRA)

K2 W 200m
Gold – Beatriz Gomes and Helena Rodrigues (POR)
Silver – Dominika Wlodarczyk and  Anna Pulawka (POL)
Bronze – Alyssa Bull and Alyce Burnett (AUS)