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Fifteen young paddlers from four European countries - Ukraine, Lithuania, Kosovo and Romania - gathered in Switzerland to get to know wildwater canoeing better and improve their canoeing skills. While some already had experience from wildwater rapids, there were some for whom this was the first experience in wildwater canoeing.

 

One of them was Tomas Simoliunas from Lithuania, who is actually a canoe sprint paddler, but took the opportunity that came his way. "It is completely different. I do not plan to switch, but I wanted to try a new thing, just for experience to see what I am capable of. During the first days, it was a new thing, the waves, the river, everything. But now I got used to it and I tried to compete with wildwater athletes who are training this," said Tomas, who competed in men's U23 kayak event.

 

This time, the result was not the main objective, "As an athlete I always want to be first, but here I understand I did not have many trainings on wildwater, so I am happy, I did my best. If there will be some chance in Lithuania to try wildwater, I will do it again, I like it and enjoy it."

 

On the other hand, Mariia Lisovska from Ukraine started her sporting career in canoe slalom. "I started at the age of 12 with canoe slalom, I really liked it. I started in Ukraine in Pavlohrad. Since 2022 I've been living in Czechia, and where I am training, they were also training wildwater canoeing, so I tried it myself," she explained her beginnings. She really enjoyed the development camp in Dallenwil, "I really enjoy everything - nature, especially the river. We had lots of training, both the classic course and sprint, and some flatwater training on the lake," said Mariia and added, "I also found new friends, we went to Lucerne and explored the nature. It was a first experience for me and I think I improved here in wildwater canoeing. I could do better at the race, but I am still satisfied."

 

There were two coaches, wildwater canoeing athletes themselves, in charge of the development camp - Alexandra Plachtova from Czechia and Robert Janiszewski from Australia. "We built up the schedule for these guys. We want to develop wildwater canoeing in new countries, we want to catch them, to get younger generations involved, but it is not just working with them here in the training camp but also during the rest of the year. We try to keep contact with their coaches, with the athletes and try to build up the infrastructure of the clubs and the relationships between the clubs and their federations, so the federations can actually support the wildwater clubs. It is a challenging job but we are working on it. To have them really here, practising, competing, is the cherry on the top," said Alexandra Plachtova.

 

She added, "It's like a roller-coaster ride, sometimes you have to support them mentally, sometimes you need to support them by teaching them how to survive when they are sometimes swimming, sometimes not feeling good on the water, it is a challenge also for us as the coaches.

This is why we started paddling on the lake, on flatwater, so they got the chance to get used to the wildwater boats. Then we took them to the easiest part of the river, not the part with the biggest rapids."

 

The days the young athletes spent in Switzerland were full of different activities. "During the first days, we were trying at the lake, not the river, because the kayaks are completely different, with the balance and everything. We were getting used to a new thing. In next days, we tried small sections of the river, so we got used to the waves and river. Day by day, the training got harder and we did more laps to get better," said Tomas Simoliunas and explained further, "We woke up, ate the breakfast, went to the river and did some laps, then the lunch followed, after that we went back to the bunker where we stayed, then we had some free time, we were exploring the town, the mountains, everything, at the end we went back to the course for a second training. It was a hard week." The attendees of the development camp were staying in the military bunker which was a special experience as well.

 

The rapids of Engelberger Aa were a real challenge for the young and not so experienced paddlers, but they showed a real determination. "It is funny. Here at the European Championships we have harder venue than it will be in Spain in Sabero for seniors. Because of this, I am admiring them even more, that they can actually do it, jump into the boats, and go and paddle," concluded Alexandra Plachtova.