Slovenian, British and Austrian wins in Ljubljana – Tacen
20.4.2024
Ljubljana – Tacen hosts the first of the two ECA canoe slalom competitions in the season 2024 this weekend. The ECA I Feel Slovenia Tacen 2024 European Open Canoe Slalom Cup attracted over 230 athletes from 19 countries. On the first day of finals wins went to the hands of Slovenian, Austrian and British paddlers.
The ECA I Feel Slovenia Tacen 2024 European Open Canoe Slalom Cup in Ljubljana – Tacen is the last test before the 2024 ECA I Feel Slovenia Canoe Slalom European Championships set for May 2024. This is the reason many top level international paddlers decided to come to Ljubljana and use the competition as the test before the championships of the Old Continent.
The ECA Cup this weekend consists of one heat’s run and final run on each of the competition days. The first wins went to Luka Božič, Lea Novak, Corinna Kuhnle and Christopher Bowers. Austrian Corinna Kuhnle traditionally competes very well at the course in Ljubljana – Tacen. The 36-year-old won her first World Champion title here back in 2010, and became European Champion on the Sava River seven years later. This time she set the fastest time in the final despite the two seconds penalty she picked up. She was 0.80 seconds faster than Stefanie Horn from Italy, who was second at the 2017 European Championships held in Ljubljana. Dutch canoe slalom paddler Lena Teunissen was third.
British kayaker Christopher Bowers was the best in men’s kayak final. He finished the final run 1.18 seconds ahead of Swiss paddler Martin Dougoud, while Italian paddler Giovanni de Gennaro finished third. De Gennaro this way ended his winning streak at the ECA European Cups in Ljubljana. He won in the previous three editions of the ECA Cup in Slovenia (2021, 2022, 2023).
Lea Novak from Slovenia was the winner of women’s canoe event. She took advantage of her home course to win gold medal ahead of Marta Bertoncelli. Italian canoeist finished the final run 0.72 second behind Novak. Spanish canoeist Nuria Vilarrubla finished third in Saturday’s final.
In the last final event of the day – men’s canoe – Luka Božič celebrated a win. The number one in the World Ranking suffers from a knee injury; however this does not stop him on his way to the top. This time he was 3.50 seconds faster than Italian Raffaello Ivaldi, who had two penalty seconds. Slovak canoeist Matej Benuš, Rio Olympic Games medallist, was third
On Sunday, the race continues with heats and final.
20.4.2024
