Livestreaming from China on the International Canoe Federation’s website last week, team Germany defended its men’s Canoe Polo world title; while the New Zealand women were back on top for the first time since their win in 2016.
And as the ICF reported, it was a slow start with the women Kiwis and Italians taking a cautious approach on the final day of action at the 2024 Canoe Polo World Championships. The New Zealanders went into overdrive with five minutes remaining in the first half whereby Emma Malcolm and Tania Dugdale opened the scoring. They started the second half with intent, scoring four more goals as the Italians were mentally and physically defeated. Italian Chiara Trevisan got a consolation goal as the match finished 6-1 to New Zealand.
“The game’s not over until it’s over. Even if we did put a couple away early, we kept working right to the end. I guess the scoreline does reflect how hard we work throughout the game,” New Zealand captain Kate Blincoe said. “We were inspired by the 2016 New Zealand senior women’s team who won gold and following in their footsteps is cool. It is so nice to bring it home for the country.”
The men’s final was tighter as Germany retained their title by beating France 2-1 with a “defensive masterclass,” according to ICP. Germany broke a deadlock when captain Jonas Vieren found the back of the net from a tight angle. He bettered that finish by sending a rocket to make it 2-0 to the Germans.
There were plenty of chances for both sides, and the French did their bit too, attacking from all ends of the pitch. Leo Dehainault finally cracked the German backline with four minutes remaining but could not add to the momentum.
“I think it’s just great teamwork. We work well together. We might not have made the best match in the final, but to be able to beat the French team is great,” Vieren said. “We do our defensive work, then it will be hard for other teams to score against us. We knew we would score at some point. It worked out in the semifinal and the final as well.”
Germany, France, Denmark, Great Britain, Italy and Spain will head to The World Games in Chengdu next year among men after finishing in the top six. New Zealand, Italy, the Netherlands, Iran, Germany and Spain among women have sealed their spots.
Earlier in the day, a goal in either half from Vieren and Arne Beckmann was enough for Germany to beat Great Britain in the first men’s semi-finals. Ivan Debelyi was the hero for world number six France as they came out on top against fifth-ranked Denmark 3-1 in the other contest. Iran faced New Zealand in the women’s category for a place in the final but were unable to contain the Kiwis. The first half finished 4-0 in favour of the Oceania side, but the seventeenth-ranked Iranians started the second half well with two quick goals. However, the last three minutes saw world number four New Zealand add three more goals for a comfortable win, with Blincoe and Alyssa Shepherd scoring two goals each. World number-three Italy pipped the Dutch in the other women’s semi-finals. In the entertaining match, Italian captain Roberta Catania scored a hat-trick to win it 5-4.
Bronze medals went to Denmark and the Netherlands in the men’s and women’s categories, respectively.
The International Canoe Federation is responsible for the global sport of canoeing and has 171 affiliated National Associations and 10 disciplines – Sprint, Slalom, Paracanoe, Wildwater, Marathon, Canoe Polo, Freestyle, Ocean Racing, Dragon Boat and Stand Up Paddling.
Canoeing has two Olympic disciplines, with sprint introduced at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games and slalom at the Munich 1972 Olympic Games; Canoeing also made its debut at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games with Paracanoe.
Find out more about the International Canoe Federation at canoeicf.com.