Slovakia dominates men’s C1 event, Czech Republic men’s K1 event, Nuria Vilarrubla takes gold for Spain

It has been an intense day of racing in Liptovsky Mikulaš, Slovakia, at the 2016 ECA European Canoe Slalom Championships. There has been joy and disappointment, but we have seen some excellent racing at a very difficult course. Local stars Alexander Slafkovsky and Michal Martikan celebrated a double win in men’s C1, Czech kayakers Jiri Prskavec and Vavrinec Hradilek were first and second in men’s K1, while Spanish representative Nuria Vilarrubla took gold in women’s C1 final. Ander Elosegi (ESP) and Maarten Hermans (NED) booked a ticket to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games after finishing at the top in the European Olympic Qualifiers.

Loud support from the stands helped canoeist Alexander Slafkovsky (SVK) to produce the best run in the final to win a gold medal. “It is something amazing. Unbelievable! It was my dream to achieve this once in my career – to win at home and to win something big. Today is the day and I am so happy,” said Alexander Slafkovsky. He already has a European Champion title he won two years ago in Vienna.Slafkovsky was the only finalist without any penalty seconds, but pointed out the run was not perfect: “You cannot make a perfect run on this course because the water is changing a lot. You just have to be careful on your way. The first part was more secure and then I started to push it more and more. I heard the crowd screaming and that I’m ahead, so I wanted to continue like this to the finish line.”He was a little less than two seconds ahead of Michal Martikan (SVK) who was actually the fastest canoeist in the final but picked up four penalty seconds which pushed him to the silver medal position. Ander Elosegi (ESP) took bronze.The day became even more successful for the Spanish team in the following category. Nuria Vilarrubla (C1W European Championships bronze medallist in 2013 and 2015) took gold in women’s canoe final with a tight lead of 66 hundredths of a second ahead of Katerina Hoškova from Czech Republic. Mallory Franklin (GBR) was third.“The final run was so hard for me today. I did not feel good. At the exit of the first upstream gate I did not feel very confident. I fought a lot and did some mistakes, but finally I …

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