Most promising paddler award – Jakub Grigar (SVK)
Our award for most promising paddler goes to 19-year-old, Jakub Grigar from Slovakia. “Hands down”, said USA Canoe Kayak overnight.
Grigar has been astonishingly quick all season. He won a silver medal at the Seu d’Urgell ICF World Cup race. In the Olympics, he was the fastest at the 2nd split in the Olympic heat, he was the winner of the Olympic semi-final and he was the fastest at the 2nd split in the Olympic final.
Grigar progression through Rio Olympics ...Read more
Deodoro canoe slalom legacy
Here we explore what this Rio Olympic event has meant for canoe slalom in Brazil. I have been following the Brazilian team since London 2012.
In 2013, I described them as “young, highly passionate and motivated team who don’t give up”. The Brazilian team has advanced incredibly in the last few years. We have seen them in World Championship semi-finals, a final in C1W, and now an Olympic final, where Pedro Da Silva [aka Pepe Goncalves] finished 6th. It cannot be denied that their rise has been meteoric.
Even before the Games had begun, Goncalves had...Read more
K1 final makes history as New Zealand and Australia take podium positions
New Zealand has won its first ever Olympic canoe slalom medal, and Oceania has filled two out of the three podium places in an historic day of racing in the K1 women’s final in Rio.
27-year-old Luuka Jones, competing in her third Olympics, finished second and Australian 20-year-old Jessica Fox thirdbehind Spain’s MaialenChourraut in an action-packed final.
“To be on the podium today with Jess, I mean she is an incredible athlete,” Jones said.
“It is a European-dominated sport, and that’s why we have to travel so much. So to have two women from Oceania on...Read more
Werro brothers ready to give return on shareholders' investment
When Swiss brothers Lukas and Simon Werro picked up a 50 second penalty during their first run of the C2 heats in Rio on Monday there was a whole army of benefactors who let out a collective gulp.
Far more than many athletes in Rio, the journey of the Werro brothers to the Olympics was very much a collective effort.
“In canoeing in Switzerland it’s pretty tough, if you want to be in the professional level like everyone else,” Lukas Werro said.
“We have to be a bit inventive, so this year to fund one of our training camps we decided to try out crowd funding.
“It...Read more
Clarke feels at home with first kayak gold for Great Britain
RIO DE JANEIRO - Joseph CLARKE (GBR) won Great Britain's first individual gold medal in Olympic Games canoe slalom at Whitewater Stadium on Wednesday, and then paid tribute to his family and friends, his fellow K1 competitors, and the "British weather" which had enveloped the hilltop course.
CLARKE finished ahead of Peter KAUZER (SLO) in silver and Jiri PRSKAVEC (CZE) in bronze on his Olympic Games debut in blustery conditions more suited to his home town of Stoke-on-Trent than the Deodoro X-Park in Rio de Janeiro.
"To me the weather
...Read more
Canoe Slalom Olympic day 5 review - C2M & K1W
Ladislav & Peter Skantar maintained Slovakia’s domination as the sunsets on C2M in the Olympics. Maialen Chourraut (ESP) proved beyond doubt that she is the fastest women’s kayak paddler around gates on whitewater. Here is a review of the C2M & K1W semi-finals and finals.
C2M – An incredible 4th Olympic gold for Slovakia
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Ohrstrom makes swedish slalom history
When Sweden’s Isak Ohrstrom rolled at an early gate in his K1 semi-final run in Rio, he knew his Olympics were over.
And while the subsequent 50 second penalty officially killed off his Olympics, the 25-year-old was not inconsolable.
Quite the contrary – the moment he set foot in Rio he made history for his country, so he was already winning.
“I didn’t feel any pressure,” Ohrstrom said after his race.
“I was happy to be in the semi-finals, and I just tried to cut the lines a little bit too much, then what happened, happened.
“
...Read more
Mike Dawson finds that mum knows best
RIO DE JANEIRO - New Zealand paddler Mike DAWSON is hoping his second Olympic Games will be less of a family affair than his first, when his father protested his mother's awarding of a time penalty for touching a gate.
"At London 2012 I had quite a unique experience as my mum was a judge and she happened to give me a two-second penalty," DAWSON said after training at the Whitewater Stadium in Deodoro X-Park.
"I touched the pole with the back of my life jacket so I didn't think I had actually touched it. My dad, Les, who was my team manager and coach, protested...Read more
Yazawai cracks the code for absorbing pressure: become a monk!
Four years is a long time for anyone, and Japanese canoe slalom athlete Kazuki Yazawa is living proof a lot can change during an Olympic cycle.
Heading into London in 2012, his life was all about paddling. Heading to Rio things were a lot more complicated, but also a lot more peaceful.
Because Kazuki Yazawa has answered his calling, of sorts, and become a Buddhist Monk.
“London Olympics I was a professional athlete, now I am not,” Yazawa said after qualifying for the semi-finals of the K1 in Rio.
“London was big pressure for me, now is
...Read more
Estanguet hands over medal and mantle to compatriot Gargaud Chanut
RIO DE JANEIRO - Denis GARGAUD CHANUT (FRA) inherited the mantle of French canoe slalom great Tony ESTANGUET as he won France's seventh Olympic Games gold medal in the sport at Whitewater Stadium on Tuesday.
GARGAUD CHANUT held off the challenge of Matej BENUS (SVK) and Takuya HANEDA (JPN) to clock the fastest run in the men's C1 final before accepting the gold medal from presenter ESTANGUET, who won the last of his three C1 golds at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
"It was a very great moment for him to bring me this medal because there is a sort of transfer...Read more
