Portugal’s Fernando Pimenta completed a hat-trick of gold medals on the final day of the International Canoe Federation Canoe Sprint World Cup in Poznan, Poland.
After sharing top spot with Poland’s Slawomir Witczak following a thrilling men’s K1 500 final yesterday, Pimenta swept aside his opponents with two dominant displays today.
Pimenta boosted his hopes for the Paris 2024 Olympics with an impressive victory in the men’s K1 1000 before powering to glory in the non-Olympic event of the men’s K1 5000.
“It has been a great week for me,” said Pimenta.
“There have been some good performances.
“Now it’s time to focus on Paris and continue to work. Things are going well and I hope I will produce a better performance in Paris.
“I am focusing on the K1 1000 so just one discipline.”
Sweden’s Joakim Lindberg came second with France’s Jeremy Candy rounding off the podium in third.
In the women’s K1 5000, Sweden’s Melina Andersson was a comfortable winner as she added to her gold medal in the women’s K1 1000.
“It was quite a hard race because of the heat,” said Andersson.
“I was feeling really warm from the first 100 metres and the portage was quite long so the heat kept building up.
“It was quite tiring but it was a good race for me as I was able to keep the technique all the way.”
In the battle for silver, Great Britain’s Melissa Johnson got the edge, pushing Czechia’s Katerina Milova into third.
There was a Polish one-two in the men’s C1 5000 with Mateusz Borgiel overcoming Kyrylo Krasinskyi.
“The race was very hard but I had a strong portage and I felt very good,” said Borgiel.
“I am very happy as this is the first time I have won a gold medal at a World Cup and it has happened in Poland.”
The bronze medal went to Ukraine’s Dmytro Yanchuk.
Ukraines Valeriia Terata emerged victorious from the women’s C1 5000, adding to her success in the women’s C1 1000 yesterday.
France’s Yseline Huet did all she could to close the gap only to face a battle for silver as she fought off Czech paddler Martina Malikova for second spot.
Oleksandr Zaitsev also struck gold for Ukraine in the non-Olympic events, edging home favourite Jakub Stepun by a mere 0.03 in the men’s K1 200.
Georgia’s Badri Kavelashvili was the bronze medallist.
China topped the medal table with six gold, three silver and one bronze.
Hao Liu and Bowen Ji got two of those as they followed up their triumph in the men’s C2 500 to capture the men’s C2 1000 crown.
The Chinese duo proved too strong for Polish pairings Wiktor Glazunow and Arsen Sliwinski and Aleksander Kitewski and Oleksii Koliadych who finished second and third respectively.
“I am very happy,” said Liu.
“We have two gold medals but it’s not easy.
“We are working hard as a team. We are ready for Paris.”
Mengya Sun was crowned women’s C2 500 champion along with Shixiao Xu yesterday but the team mates became rivals today.
It was Sun who came out on top, beating Xu by 0.18, while Tereta claimed bronze.
“I made mistake in the middle of the race but I did a great job,” said Sun.
“All the motivation comes from the team as we have had medals for so many years.
“I could not achieve this without the team and my partner.
“That is my biggest motivation.”
For all the results from today’s races, click here.
Pictures by Bence Vekassy
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