Royal Spanish Canoe Federation announced winners of the awards for the sporting achievements in the season 2017 which will be given to the best athletes at an annual gala event which will be held in January in Madrid. Male athlete of the year is Marcus Cooper Walz and female athlete of the year is Adriana Paniagua. Best athletes of the year are chosen by the members of the Board of Directors of the Royal Spanish Canoe Federation.
2016 Olympic Champion Marcus Cooper Walz did not rest on his success of the previous year. Paddler from the Balearic Islands won two medals at this year’s World Championships in Račice. He won the World Champion title in K2 men 500 metres event together with Rodrigo Germade and picked up another medal, this time silver, in K4 500 metres final together with Germade, Carlos Garrote and Cristian Toro. Walz was successful at European Championships in Plovdiv as well. He won the European Champion title in men’s K4 1000 metres final together with Inigo Pena, Francisco Cubelos and Javier Cabanin.
Adriana Paniagua, double finalist at this year’s World Championships, will receive an award for the best female paddler of the year. She was ninth in the C1W 200 metres final of the World Championships in Račice, and eighth in C2W 500 metres event together with Patricia Coco. Paniagua and Coco were sixth at this year’s European Championships.
The best female U23 athlete of the year is Laia Pelachs, best male U23 athlete of the year is Albert Marti. In the junior category Antia Jacome (female) and Miquel Trave (male) will receive awards for their achievements.
Royal Spanish Canoe Federation will also award the best paracanoeists of the year – Elena Naveiro and Javier Reja, the best technician of the year is Luis Brasero and the best official Antonio Romero.
The RFEP will also give a special award in the media category, this year the award will go to the hands of Fernando Fernandez Cembrero, editor of the newspaper Ultima Hora de Mallorca.
Source: http://rfep.es/publicacion/noticias.asp?n=3004
23.12.2017
