Canoe/Kayak Slalom Day 5 Review: After rain delay, sun shines on Slovakia

Canoe/Kayak Slalom Day 5 Review: After rain delay, sun shines on Slovakia




After getting rained out the previous day, six pairs of paddlers finally were able to compete in the finals of the Men's Slalom Canoe Double (C2), while rescheduled competition also commenced in the semifinal and final of the Women's Slalom Kayak Single (K1) on Friday, August 15.

Men's Slalom C2

The Olympic champions in 2000 and 2004, Slovakian twins Peter and Pavol Hochschorner, placed second in the previous day's semifinal but were at their best at Friday's final run, winning with a time of 190.82 seconds.
Jaroslav Volf and Ondřej Štěpánek from the Czech Republic, who incurred no penalties in either the semifinal or final, delivered a solid performance and their 192.89 seconds won them the Silver medal. Russians Mikhail Kuznetsovk and Dmitry Larionov took Bronze in 197.37 seconds.

Despite being the fastest crew in the final, French pair Martin Braud and Cedric Forgit could only manage fourth overall after making uncharacteristic mistakes and incurring penalties in their semifinal run.

Germans Felix Michel and Sebastian Piersig, leaders after the first run, produced a disappointing performance and finished last in the final.

Women's Slalom K1

Slovakia also claimed a gold in the Women's K1 from defending champion Elena Kaliska, who came in first in both the semi and the final. Her total time was 192.64 seconds.



Australia's Jacqueline Lawrence grabbed silver with a total of 206.94 seconds, 14.30 behind Kaliska. She ranked fourth in the semi and second in the final.

Bronze went to Austria's Violetta Oblinger Peters, who only clinched seventh place in the semi but came in third in the final.

French kayaker Emilie Fer was second in the semifinal with a time of 98.50 seconds, but after having 54 penalty seconds added to her final time, she dropped down to seventh in the ranking.