On the first day of the 2016 version of ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup in Duisburg, Germany, there was smooth appearances from all star players. While the reigning Olympic Champion, Sebastian Brendel, was at ease at the home location, Female Champion canoeist and Olympic Champion, Lisa Carrington didn’t allow the away advantage to take toll on her performance.
Brendel has a career of around 9 years in this competition, and he won at London 2012 Canoeing event C-1000m. A seasoned canoeist that he is, his other decorations include three medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships with a silver and two bronzes.
Brazilian Isaquias Queros Dos Santos, who was seen as the main rival of the German, secured the spot next to Brendel in tomorrow’s final. Maldovan Serghei Tarnovschi won the third spot, though he’ll need to pick up the pace considerably in the finals.
These performances on the starting day itself, gave a hint about the competition the event will unfold on other days. Not very different from the leagues of Olympic Champions, the event had the German Max Hoff, a sprint canoeist, a veteran in the competition, who has under him, seven medals at ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships with five golds and two silvers. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, he won the bronze medal in the K-1 1000 m.
Also, in the league of performers, from the day, were Serbian Dejan Pajic, Belarus’s Aleh Yurenie and Denmark’s René Holten, who all, like Hoff, won their respective semifinals.
Portuguese Fernando Pimenta, London Olympic Silver medalist in K-2 1000m and Josef Dostál (CZE), the 2014 World Champion, also had a comfortable outing, Belgian Artuur Peters was the fastest third from the four semis .
On the other hand, Lisa Carrington (New Zealand) is a flatwater canoeist who won Women’s K-1 200m at the London 2012 Summer Games, with her other decorations include gold at the 2011 Canoe Sprint World Championships. Olympic gold medalists Germans Franziska Weber and Tina Dietze looked strong in their opening heat and progressed straight to the final of K2W 500m.
Their teammates, Sabrina Hering and Steffi Kriegerstein, the Polish powerhouses Karolina Naja and Beata Mikolajczyk,will be the other contenders at the finals.
Among the other winners of the day were Liam Heath and Jonathan Schofield (GBR), Saúl Cravitto and Cristian Toro (ESP), Sébastien Jouve and Maxime Beaumont (FRA) in the K2M 200m, Aimee Fisher, Inna Osipenko-Rodomska (AZE), the European Champion Sarah Guyot (FRA), and Anastasiia Todorova (UKR), Polish Marta Walczykiewicz in K1W 200m, Canadian Katie Vincent in C1W 200m, Eef Haaze (NED) and Ana Roxana Lehaci (AUT), Bulgaria’s Dariya Baicheuskaya, Russian Svetlana Chernigovskaya and Polish Edyta Dzieniszewska in K-4W 500 m, Max Rendschmidt and Marcus Gross (GER) in K2M 1000m, Brazilians Erlon Souza Silva and Ronilson Matias De Oliveira in C2M 200m.