2020 ICF Slalom World Cup Tacen, DAY3 (Report, Videos, Results)
Slovenia’s Luka Bozic posted his first ever win on his home course and Brazil’s Ana Satila her first world cup gold on the final day of competition at the ICF canoe slalom world cup in Ljubljana on Sunday.
By: Ross Solly
Photos: ©Bence Vekassy/PlanetCanoe
A challenging course made life difficult for both the men and the women, with very few athletes able to complete the course without mistakes.
Two-time Olympian Satila, who was devastated after missing a gate 24 hours earlier in the K1 final that robbed her of a potential medal, made sure there were no similar mistakes in the C1 final.
Despite a gate touch her time of 93.64 was still 1.73 seconds quicker than France’s Lucie Prioux, with USA’s Evy Leibfarth third. The American 16-year-old was the only female athlete to post a clean run.
“Yesterday was really hard for me, one of the hardest races I’ve ever done,” Satila said.
“I had so much trouble to overcome it, but I had this run today so I tried to keep my focus and to rest. Now to leave a world cup with a gold medal is so important to me.
“A final is always hard. Today I tried to stay focussed and to do everything good. It didn’t happen, but it’s a gold medal still, and I’m going to try and improve even more for the next one.”
Bozic is still in an important tussle with his Slovenian teammates for the ticket to next year’s Olympics, but showed little sign of the pressure by posting an error-free 78.17 in the C1 final. He was 1.64 seconds ahead of France’s Nicolas Gestin, with another Frenchman, 19-year-old Jules Bernardet, back in third.
“It’s really nice to finally have a good run here in Tacen,” Bozic said.
“I was happy that we have had a lot of races here in Tacen and in Slovenia, but I didn’t expect something like this year. But this is good to win before the Olympic season.
“Next year is going to be a different time. I need to prepare for the Olympic selection well.”
The Ljubljana world cup was the first ICF slalom event of 2020, due to the Covid pandemic. A second world cup is scheduled for Pau, France, from November 6-8.
RESULTS
WOMEN C1
SATILA Ana (BRA) 93.64 (2 seconds penalties)
PRIOUX Lucie (FRA) 95.37 (2)
LEIBFARTH Evy (USA) 96.76 (2)
MEN C1
BOZIC Luka (SLO) 78.17 (0)
GESTIN Nicolas (FRA) 79.81 (0)
BERNARDET Jules (FRA) 80.24 (0)
Read & Watch
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