Slalom World Cup 2017 Stage #2 – Augsburg, Germany
Canoe Slalom World Cup 2 starts in Augsburg Friday
One week after the excitement and emotion of the opening ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup of 2017 in Prague, the athletes have moved to Augsburg in Germany for the next round of competition.
All the gold medallists from Prague will be lining up at Augsburg, the venue for the 1972 Olympic Games and still considered one of the world’s most enticing canoe slalom courses.
As well as last week’s champions, several Olympic champions who had their colours lowered will be looking to strike back, including Great Britain’s Joseph Clarke in the men’s K1.
And Augsburg will mark the first World Cup appearance of Denis Gargaud Chanut, the Frenchman who won C1 gold in Rio last year but who missed last weekend’s event.
Germany’s Sideris Tasiadis broke through for an emotional maiden World Cup victory in the C1 in Prague, and will be looking for a big crowd to spur him on this weekend.
Czech Vit Prindis was another emotional winner last weekend, breaking through for his first ever podium finish on his home course, and he can expect another strong challenge this weekend from fellow Czechs’ Jiri Prskavec and Ondrej Tunka.
There will be 80 starters in the K1 men’s competition, and 66 in the women’s, with Spain’s Maialen Chourraut the woman to catch after her stand-out performance last Sunday.
The paddler to watch in the women’s competition will be Great Britain’s Kimberley Woods, who won gold in the C1 and silver in the K1 to follow up her excellent European form from earlier in the season.
A total of 68 men have entered the C1, and 47 women, including triple world champion Jessica Fox from Australia, who will be looking to make amends for last weekend when she attracted 50-second penalties in the both the C1 and the K1.
In the men’s C2 all eyes will be on Slovak cousins Ladislav and Peter Skantar, the Rio gold medallists who failed to make last weekend’s finals.
But they will need to be on their best form to challenge the Czech pairing of Jonas Kaspar and Marek Sindler, who dominated racing last weekend.
Also on the card this weekend will be the increasingly popular extreme cross slalom.
Competition begins on Friday morning, with finals on Saturday and Sunday.
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