The second day of action in Tacen, Slovenia delivered sibling success and a Czech masterclass in the canoe races.
Slovenia’s Ziga Lin Hocevar thrilled the home crowd with C1 gold at the International Canoe Federation Canoe Slalom World Cup on home wayers.
There was also a silver medal for his elder sister Eva Alina Hocevar as she finished behind Czechia’s Tereza Kneblova who secured her first C1 crown, while Switzerland’s Alena Marx, Slovenia’s Luka Bozic, and Czech paddler Vaclav Chaloupka were the other medallists.
Here’s what the medallists had to say following the action.
Click here for live startlists and results from Tacen
Women’s Canoe
Tereza Kneblova (Czechia - gold)
“I’m so thrilled because it’s my first really good final run. I’m so grateful that I was able to put it down here. It’s really special for me, especially after last year when I didn’t manage to put together the runs I wanted for a long time. I’m really grateful for all the work I’ve put in, and to see it come together like this means a lot. The transition [from racing kayak cross to canoe] has been good. I think I’m used to racing both categories, so I’m glad to be back doing that. I’m also really excited about the cross, so we’ll see what happens there.”
Eva Alina Hocevar (Slovenia - silver)
“It’s crazy, unbelievable. I still can’t believe I won yesterday. It was crazy - I had a really nice run, but it was completely the opposite of today. Yesterday I made a big mistake in qualifying, and today I had a really good qualifying run. On one hand, it was really hard waiting for all the athletes in the final to come down and seeing whether my run would be enough for a medal or even a win. On the other hand, today it was really hard starting last because I’d already seen Tereza Kneblova’s run. I’m happy that I saw it because then I knew I needed to do really well, but it also made it difficult. It was hard to just let my boat flow because I knew I had to be almost perfect to beat her [Kneblova]. In the end, my run was close to hers, so I’m really happy with that.”
Alena Marx (Switzerland - bronze)
“I’m really excited and so happy about it. It was a big surprise, and I couldn’t be happier. I think it was a really good run - my best World Cup result ever. I’m especially pleased because it was a solid run with no touches. Honestly, I’m not even sure what the best part of the course was; everything just came together really well today.”
Men’s Canoe
Ziga Lin Hocevar (Slovenia - gold)
“I couldn’t be better, I feel unbelievable. It’s a dream come true to win a World Cup at home. It’ll be two years tomorrow since I won my first World Cup, it’s just unbelievable. It was a crazy morning for me, I woke up at 6:50 and went to school to do my exams. I was there for about three hours. It was pretty tiring, but I think it went well. I came straight to Tacen, had one hour to prepare. For the final I was tired but I just knew I had to go for it. I had nothing to lose.”
Vaclav Chaloupka (Czechia - silver)
“This is pretty much my first solid World Cup medal. I got silver in 2020, but that was during the COVID period and there weren’t that many people racing. I felt like I needed to prove to myself that I could do it in a big race with everybody there. It took me some time, but I’m really happy that I managed to do it today. Definitely, this makes me want more. I’ll definitely be pushing for more medals. I think what I’m happiest about in the race is that I didn’t lose it at the beginning. I didn’t really do the drop very well, so I had to take the left line, which wasn’t the optimal one. I think I was the only finallist who took that line, but I told myself it didn’t matter. I knew what I had to do to save the run. I tried to get back into rhythm after that, and I think I managed it.”
Luka Bozic (Slovenia - bronze)
“The result is okay, but the run wasn’t so good. In the first part, I think I could have done much better. Then, in the second part, I was fighting the water more, so it wasn’t a really nice, smooth run. I was expecting more, to be honest.”
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