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The ECA Open Slalom Cup is open to all nations, whose national federations are members of the ICF, as the ECA series uses the existing ICF canoe slalom ranking races. This season brings the test of the series to see the feedback from the athletes and federations. The ECA Open Slalom Cup is organised only in Olympic disciplines: K1M, K1W, C1M, C1W.

 

During the first competition weekend in this series the best German paddlers did not allow any surprises on their home territory. They have picked up wins in all four categories.

 

Ricarda Funk recorded a secure win, finishing the race almost six seconds faster than her closest rival Amalie Hilgertova from Czech Republic who was second. Anna Faber from Germany was third with more than ten seconds slower time than Funk.

 

Much tighter was the men’s canoe final where Olympic medallist Sideris Tasiadis (GER) won in front of reigning World Champion in this event Franz Anton, who was only 0.38 seconds behind. Lennard Tuchscherer finished third, 0.72 seconds behind Tasiadis, for a complete German podium.

 

The fastest paddler in men’s kayak was Stefan Hengst, who was 2.38 seconds faster than current World Champion Hannes Aigner (GER). Vit Prindiš from Czech Republic finished the final in third position.

 

Jasmin Schornberg (GER) was the best in women’s canoe event. She crossed the finish line 0.41 seconds faster than Martina Satkova from Czech Republic who was second, and Alexandra Stach from Poland finished the race in third place. Stach was actually the fastest but picked up four penalty seconds on the way which pushed her to third position.

 

The next race in the ECA Open Slalom Cup series will be held in Ljubljana – Tacen, Slovenia, on 27^th and 28^th April 2019. In May the third race will be organised in Liptovsky Mikulaš (SLO), followed by Merano (ITA) in June, Prague (CZE) and Bratislava (SVK) in August.