Usually the heat associated with “the dog days of August” keeps the dogs on the porch makes the rest of us lazy. Extreme heat didn’t keep the athletes or spectators away from the banks of the Warta river and the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships. The event wrapped over the weekend in Poznan, Poland. PL checks in with the results. No dog-paddlers allowed.
The 1st race of the day, the women’s K1 500m was a real crowd pleaser. Current Olympic champion Inna Ospypenko-Radomska (UKR) passed Natasha Janics (Hun) around the 400 meter mark to take the gold medal. Janics the silver, and Rachel Cawthorn (GBR) fought off Teresa Portela (POR) for the bronze. The ladies really warmed up the crowd, though with the mercury still rising it was really unnecessary.
The Men took to the water for their 500m K1 final riding the wave of enthusiasm. Anders Gustaffson (SWE) won a hard fought battle with Adam Van Koeverden (CAN) and Peter Gelle (SVK) for the gold. It came down to the last 50 meters, but in the end the Swede was just too strong. Gelle took the silver, and Koeverden the bronze. Afterwards Gustaffson commented on the event. “I am pretty happy to be world champion.” He’s used to these races coming down to the wire, but he’s ready for that. “With all 500m it was a close race, but I’m usually stronger in the second half of the race.” Then he added, “Today, I was good in both.”
The last event of the day was the women’s K4. Neither the crowd nor the heat had diminished any, and long time rivals Hungary and Germany cranked up the excitement level. The Hungarians proved victorious once again, but the crowd was real focus was on the hometown favorite Polish squad. The Polish women were paddling in lane 9, right next to the grandstand. The crowd support propelled them all the way to the podium, as they captured the bronze behind the Germans who took silver.
Finals Results
Women’s K1 500m Final
1st Inna Osypenko-Radomska (UKR) 1:50:461
2nd Natasa Janic (HUN) 1:50:625
3rd Rachel Cowthorn (GBR) 1:50:929
Women’s K2 500m Final
1st Szabo/Kozak (HUN) 1:40:064
2nd Salakhova/Sergeeva (RUS) 1:41:628
3rd Schuring/Schwarz (AUT) 1:42:684
Women’s K4 500m Final
1st Janic/Csipes/
Kovacs/Benedek (HUN) 1:31:607
2nd Fischer/Reinhardt/
Wagner/Dietze (GER) 1:32:795
3rd Naja/Konieczna/
Pawelczak/Krukowska (POL) 1:33:815
Men’s K1 500m Final
1st Anders Gustafsson (SWE) 1:38:457
2nd Peter Gelle (SVK) 1:38:961
3rd Adam Van Koeverden (CAN) 1:39:005
Men’s K2 500m Final
1st Piatrushenka/Makhnev (BLR) 1:29:230
2nd Pimenta/Ribeiro (POR) 1:29:970
3rd Stanojevic/Pajic (SRB) 1:30:418
Mens C1 500m Finals
1st Dzianis Harazha (BLR) 1:47:701
2nd Qiang Li (CHN) 1:48:317
3rd Vadim Menkov (UZB) 1:48:457
Men’s C2 500m Final
1st Dumitrescu/Mihalachi (ROU) 1:40:781
2nd Bezugliy/Prokopenko (AZE) 1:41:277
3rd Petrov/Kostogold (RUS) 1:41:345
Full results available here: ICF Sprint Results