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Winter with snow and low temperatures is not the most pleasant one for trainings and preparations for the new season, so majority of top level canoe slalom athletes seek better conditions away from home where sun and warmth welcome them. The most popular winter destinations for European paddlers seem to be Australian Penrith and Al Ain in United Arab Emirates as well as Pau, France. The latter one also received a portion of winter conditions and snow in the last couple of days, while the conditions in Penrith and Al Ain offered a good training for those who paddled for miles and miles on the rapids this winter. In Penrith and Al Ain paddlers also had an opportunity to take part in races to test their form before the competitions in their respective countries kick off.

In men’s kayak final the win stayed in Australia thanks to Lucien Delfour, but second and third place were won by 2013, 2014, 2016 European Champion Jiri Prskavec from Czech Republic and 2015 European Champion Boris Neveu from France. In women’s final Ricarda Funk from Germany finished second between Australians Jessica Fox and Kate Eckhardt, while Eilidh Gibson from Great Britain recorded the best European result in women’s C1 final. She was fourth, behind three Australian representatives.

A special race was organised in Al Ain, UAE, as well. Race had a slightly different format. Paddlers were competing in two separate races (2+2 runs for each competitor) in one day, with the best run counting. And the final result was a sum of points from both races. Paddlers from Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovenia, Germany, Greece and Russia participated in this race.

20-year-old Czech paddler Tereza Fišerova, 2017 European and World Championships medallist in women's C1, had an excellent day finishing in the overall top positions both in women’s C1 and K1 events. She won both times in C1 and was twice second in K1 event. Fišerova was once behind her compatriot Veronika Vojtova and once behind Slovak Eliška Mintalova, while German Jasmin Schornberg finished third in both attempts in women’s K1. In C1 event Polina Mughaleeva from Russia and Jana Matulkova from Czech Republic finished second and third both times.

In men’s C1 legendary Michal Martikan took the overall win ahead of Michal Jane from Czech Republic and Slovenian Jure Lenarčič. The latter one was the fastest in the second race, Michal Martikan was second in both races, while Michal Jane took the win in the first race. In men’s K1 2017 European vice-champion Dariusz Popiela from Poland won and was second, which meant he was the overall winner of the event. German kayaker Sebastian Schubert finished second after his two third places, and another Pole Michal Pasiut stepped on the third podium position after his win in the second race. Karlovsky – Jane and Kašpar – Šindler were the best crews in C2 category. They just changed the positions in the second race, while Koplik – Vrzan finished third in the first race and Kučera – Batik in the second race.

Photos: Facebook