The race for canoe slalom season glory will be decided this weekend at Spain’s La Seu venue, with all six titles still wide open after four ICF World Cups.
Double points will be on offer in the 2022 season finale. A gold medal will attract 120 points compared to the usual 60, silver 110 and bronze 100 points. Australia’s Jessica Fox, who holds a commanding 64 point lead after a perfect K1 season, could still relinquish the lead on Saturday.
However the Australian won both the K1 and C1 races at last year’s ICF world cup in La Seu, and has won six C1 gold medals on the former Barcelona Olympic site.
Fox has not put a foot wrong in the K1 this year, winning all four world cups for a perfect overall tally of 240 points. The next best score belongs to Czech Tereza Fiserova, who has a silver and a bronze medal to help her to 176 points.
By contrast Fox has had a tough season in the canoe, her bronze medal in Pau last weekend her only podium for the season. The Olympic gold medalist heads to La Seu with 142 points and sitting fourth on the leaderboard.
Great Britain’s Mallory Franklin has not missed a C1 final all season and picked up gold medals in Krakow and Tacen to put herself in a commanding position heading into the double points weekend.
The Tokyo silver medalist has 190 points, almost 40 points clear of Fiserova (151), who has not had a podium finish since winning in Prague on the opening weekend, and German Elena Lilik (148).
Just five points split Slovenia’s Luka Bozic and Benjamin Savsek at the top of the standings in the men’s C1. The ultra-consistent Bozic opened the season with gold in Prague and has since picked up two silver medals to amass 202 points overall, while Tokyo gold medalist Savsek has a silver and two bronze as part of his 197 points.
Frenchman Niolas Gestin, with a silver in Prague and gold in Krakow, sits on 189 points, while 2016 Olympic gold medalist Denis Gargaud Chanut has put himself in the mix for overall glory after winning in Pau last weekend, his first world cup podium for the season and taking him to 157 points.
Tokyo gold medalist Jiri Prskavec sits on top of the men’s K1 leaderboard, a bronze in Krakow and gold in Tacen helping him to 197 points. Switzerland’s Martin Dougoud, with a silver and bronze medal, is 25 points back on 172, with Krakow gold medalist Vit Prindis of the Czech Republic a further 20 points behind on 152.
There is a good race on for overall world cup glory in the extreme slalom competitions, with just eight points separating the top three in the men’s division, and five points between the top two in the women’s.
Sweden’s Isak Ohrstrom leads the men’s standings with 114 points, despite just one podium for the season – a gold in Tacen. Two-time world champion Joseph Clarke of Great Britain is one point behind on 113, and Brazil’s Pedro Goncalves sits on 106 points.
Czech Fiserova won the opening world cup and picked up fourth placings at the next two events to accumulate 152 points, while Australia’s Noemie Fox sits second on 147. Great Britain’s Kimberley Woods currently is in the bronze medal position with 127 points.
In 2021 Jessica Fox won the women’s K1 overall title and finished just four points behind Fiserova in the C1, Gargaud Chanut won the men’s C1 and Czech Vit Prindis the men’s K1. Prindis also won the men’s extreme slalom title, while Germany’s Caroline Trompeter took the women’s title.
The 2022 ICF Canoe and Extreme Slalom World Cup final begins on Friday and will run through until Sunday.
