Venue of the 2010 ECA Canoe Slalom European Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia, hosted the fifth and sixth race in the 2020 Slovak Cup series.
Rapids of Čunovo whitewater course provided the great venue for some of the best world’s canoe slalom paddlers, coming from Slovakia. As usual the most tight and equal were the races in men’s C1 where Slovakia dominates the world stage since the mid 1990s.
On the first competition day in Bratislava 2016 Olympic medallist Matej Benuš took the win ahead of Alexander Slafkovsky and Marko Mirgorodsky. The same trio reached the winner’s podium also on Sunday. This time it was the youngest of the three – Marko Mirgorodsky – who won in exciting final 0.08 seconds ahead of Alexander Slafkovsky, who also had a two seconds penalty. Benuš was third on the second competition day.
The only kayaker who was on the podium on both occasions was Jakub Grigar. On Saturday he had to congratulate Swedish representative Isak Ohstrom who was almost two and a half seconds faster. Swiss paddler Manuel Munsch was third on Saturday. On Sunday Jakub Grigar produced a superb run, finishing the race more than five seconds faster than any other kayaker in the final. Jakub Stanovsky was second and Martin Halčin third.
In women’s kayak final Eliška Mintalova celebrated on both days. On Saturday she was almost five seconds faster than second placed Jana Dukatova, and Zuzana Pankova on third place was nine seconds behind. On Sunday Mintalova repeated success from previous day, finishing two seconds ahead of Mihaela Haššova, while Jana Dukatova concluded the rce in third position.
In women’s canoe event six different athletes won podium positions on two competition days. On day one it was Emanuela Luknarova who was the fastest, followed by Simona Glejtekova and Ivan Chlebova, while on Sunday Monika Škachova celebrated the win ahead of Sona Stanovska and Zuzana Pankova.
