The first year of an Olympic cycle means teams are trying out new combinations, and what better place than at the 2025 International Canoe Federation Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Championships in Milan, Italy?
In the Olympic events, Portugal and Spain triumphed in the men’s and women’s kayak four 500m, respectively, while Ukraine was the best team in the women’s canoe double 500m.
Click here for startlists and live results in Milan
Here is what the medallists had to say:
Men
K4 500m
Messias Baptista (Portugal): It was a very good race. Of course, it is very important. We are a very fast boat. I did not see the Hungarian crew. I did not know if we won or not. It is the first time Portugal is the world champion in K4. So let’s celebrate that. It was a perfect European and World Championships. We could not have asked for more. We have the K2 tomorrow.
Bence Fodor (Hungary): It was a really hard race, a very fast race, and as you can see, I am really tired. The K4 is always about small margins. We did not expect to win and as I said, it was very hard. But we are happy.
Adrian Del Rio (Spain): We are pretty happy. We had one month to train. This is a new boat. So, we have a lot of expectations for the new Olympic cycle. It is a good start. It's really good to start. Of course, we want to win, we always want to win, but this is okay, because the next time we will do it. Carlos Arevalo and Rodrigo Germade have been in the K4 for a long time, but it was the first time for me. Our partner Alex Graneri is also in this category for the first time. That’s why this is a good result.
Women
K4 500m
Lucia Val (Spain): We have been having an amazing season, and this is a great way to end it. We put in a lot of work, and we are strong as a team. There are some great teams here, and when we knew Lisa Carrington was back for New Zealand, we knew it was going to be rough. But we really wanted this as like many, we are a new boat since the beginning of the Olympic year, and we are super proud.
Wang Nan (China): We feel amazing. It was a tough race, and we actually didn't have a lot of time to paddle together. So, the result is above our expectations. We have all been training together, but not in the K4. This is the first time we are at the World Championships as a crew. The field was strong with many champions, but we focused on ourselves. We had unity and cooperation and were not distracted by who our opponents were.
Uladzislava Skryhanava (AIN): There was too much time and energy invested in this race. When we crossed the line, I sat second in our boat, and I thought we finished fourth, but our Team Leader said we were third. It is unbelievable. It is my first medal at the World Championships. It is a proud moment.
C2 500m
Liudmyla Luzan (Ukraine): We had a very good race. Today, the weather was perfect for us. We are grateful to our country and the whole of Europe for all the support in these difficult times. It has not been easy training, but we are happy to be here, and thanks to all the other athletes for the support. We just really wanted to win, and that’s what Ukrainian women do.
Zoe Wojtyk (Canada): It was a great race. I don't know, it's been fun trying out this new crew and a lot of fun going fast in a race. It is super cool to train beside her (Katie Vincent) and get to be in a boat with her. I always had the confidence with her back there, knowing that she's keeping us straight and giving us lots of power in the boat. It's just a good feeling going into a race having someone I can trust in the back. We went together first to the World Cup in Poland. It was just trying out new crews, and then it worked well, so then we kind of started to train it more.
Angels Moreno (Spain): It was tiring. When we finished, we didn't know what the outcome was. It was a difficult race. It was our first time together at this level. Now, we are going to keep training regularly because we know we can get better. This is my second World Championships but first time in the Olympic distance, and we are super happy with the result.
