Year 2018 is slowly coming to an end and the awards season has begun in many European countries. Slovak canoeing held an annual ceremony in Bratislava where they have awarded the best athletes in wildwater and flatwater canoeing. Alexander Slafkovsky was named best paddler of the year in wildwater and Samuel Balaž in flatwater.
Alexander Slafkovsky was named paddler of the year in Slovakia in the wildwater category. He also received an award for the best wildwater canoeist of the year thanks to his World Cup overall win and bronze medal in the team event of the 2018 Canoe Slalom World Championships in Brazil. In the flatwater category Samuel Balaž took the main prize of the evening as a paddler of the year. He was member of the K4 500m which took silver medal at this year’s World Championships in Portugal and he also picked up silver medal in K4 1000 metres event at European Championships in Belgrade.
The best kayakers of the year in canoe slalom and canoe sprint are Jakub Grigar and Peter Gelle, best female kayakers of the year are Elena Kaliska and Ivana Mladkova, best paddler in canoe sprint in C1 is Matej Rusnak, best female C1 paddlers are Monika Škachova and Sona Stanovska in canoe slalom and Lucia Valova in canoe sprint, talents of the year are Emanuela Luknarova and Matuš Jedinak, while awards for teams of the year went to 3xC1 slalom team (Benuš, Martikan, Slafkovsky) and K4 500m team (Balaž, Frana, Zalka, Botek).
A special recognition was given to those who are usually behind the scenes. Stanislav Gejdoš was chosen the best wildwater coach of the year, while Radovan Šimočko received a coach of the year award in flatwater category. Miroslav Stanovsky and Lubomir Hagara sr. are the best coaches in junior category, while official of the year award went to the hands of Lucia Zahorska and Martin Bielik. Jan Kvašnovsky and Ladislav Čepiansky received a lifetime achievement award; Anton Zerer and Tibor Polaković were posthumously introduced to the hall of fame.
Photos: Peter Bende Facebook page Slovenska kanoistika – Sprint team and Facebook page Slovenska kanoistika – Slalom team
6.12.2018
