There was double gold for the Czech Republic on the final afternoon of the ICF Canoe Slalom U23 and Junior World Championships in Ivrea, with Jan Barta winning the men’s junior K1 and Gabriela Satkova taking the women's junior C1.
The wins took to ten the number of medals won by the Czech Republic during the World Championships, with five of those gold. France also won ten medals, with four golds.
Satkova was one of only two athletes to go through the women’s junior C1 final without a penalty, which proved the difference as her time of 100.45 secured the gold ahead of Italy’s Marta Bertoncelli.
“I was a bit stressed at the start as always, but once I started to paddle it was really amazing,” Satkova said.
“I hoped I would get third place, I wasn’t sure if I would be fast enough to win. I couldn’t watch the last few athletes because I was crying too much because I knew I had won a medal.
“It was going to be my first individual medal, so I was happy.”
Barta made it a golden double in the juniors for the Czech Republic. He was the only athlete to go under 80 seconds in the junior K1 final, his clean run of 79.40 enough to hold out France’s Anatole Delassus in 80.32.
“It’s pretty incredible, I think the whole race was cool,” Barta said.
“I love it. I love the feeling when I cross the finish line. I was most of the time improvising from gate 13 on, so I think I made it special here.’
“It’s kind of stressful waiting at the bottom, but it’s also a great feeling because I knew I had done a great run.”
RESULTS
U23 C1 WOMEN
- WERATSCHNIG Nadine (AUT) 94.37 (2)
- WOODS Kimberley (GBR) 98.17 (0)
- FOX Noemie (AUS) 99.18 (2)
U23 K1 MEN
- WEGER Jakob (ITA) 77.22 (0)
- FORBES-CRYANS Bradley (GBR) 77.26 (0)
- HOLMER Erik (SWE) 80.85 (2)
JUNIOR C1 WOMEN
- SATKOVA Gabriela (CZE) 100.45 (0)
- BERTONCELLI Marta (ITA) 101.24 (2)
- STANOVSKA Sona (SVK) 104.55 (2)
JUNIOR K1 MEN
- BARTA Jan (CZE) 79.40 (0)
- DELASSUS Anatole (FRA) 80.32 (0)
- ZIMA Tomas (CZE) 81.00 (2)
