Pic by Balint Vekassy

Czech Vit Prindis made it two wins in a row, Australia’s Jessica Fox was back to her best, and Germany’s Robert Behling and Thomas Becker gave the home crowd plenty to cheer about at the Ausburg Canoe Slalom World Cup on Saturday.

Prindis was one of the few paddlers to master the tough Augsburg course in the men’s K1, finishing ahead of Germany’s Hannes Aigner with fellow Czech Jiri Prskavec third.

Prindis posted a time of 97.40, just 0.24 seconds head of Aigner with Prskavec third in 97.93.

“I’m always happy that I am in the final, but i didn’t expect that I would win the first two World Cups,” Prindis said.

“I think that I have a good feeling from the water, I’ve got a good feeling from the paddling, and I hope I can do the same next week in Leipzig.”

Fox, a triple World Champion in the C1, bounced back from a disappointing weekend in Prague to easily win Saturday’s final.

She finished more than 10 seconds ahead of Great Britain’s Mallory Franklin, with Germany’s Lena Stoecklin third.

She was one of only two athletes to post a clean run in the final, helping her to a time of 116.86.

Franklin's time was 127.07, with Stoecklin 133.88.

“Last week was a bit disappointing, but I came here really motivated and pumped,” Fox said.

“My semi wasn’t perfect, but the final went to plan. I had a lot of energy and attacked it everywhere.”

The big Augsburg crowd was in full voice for the men’s C2, with local hopes Behling and Becker finishing ahead of last week’s gold medallists, Jonas Kaspar and Marek Sindler, with France’s Gauthier Klauss and Matthieu Peche third.

The winning time was 109.96, with Kaspar and Sindler on 110.89 and Klauss and Peche 111.39.

“Every time it is special to win in front of a home crowd, because they have the power to cheer us down to the finish line,”  Behling said.

“It’s good to make our first win. The last two competitions for us were not the best, we made the finals but then made small mistakes.”

The ICF World Cup 2 continues on Sunday in Augsburg. All races will be live streamed at www.canoeicf.com

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