North Macedonian paddler Ljubomir Spasik has been around for many seasons now and last year he became an overall winner of the Wildwater Canoeing European Cup race series. In an interview he talked about his beginnings, future goals and status of canoeing in North Macedonia.
“The love for kayaking was born in 1998 when I tried this sport for the first time with my friends in Veles. After a while they stopped kayaking, but I continued to this day,” said Spasik and continued, “I am a member of the club Arka-Borec from Veles, which has 30 members and I am also a coach.”
Ljubomir’s biggest international success to this date was an overall win in ECA Wildwater Canoeing European Cup race series. “In the last years, from 2015, I have been consistent in the top 10 of kayakers in European ranking, I was 4th in the overall standings in 2017. After many years of efforts and investment of time and financial resources I managed to win the European Cup in 2019 and I was the first Macedonian to win the overall European Cup series. I am especially proud of this success because I did not have any support from state institutions.”
The venue in Matka Canyon, Skopje, hosted canoe slalom and wildwater canoeing European Championships in the past and is the only such venue in the country, “It needs renovation and modernisation to follow the trends of other countries in the region and world if we want to have well prepared competitors and greater success in canoeing. I think it is necessary to built a canoe course in Veles which has good pre-conditions for it.”
This season and pandemic caused cancellation of many major canoeing events, among others also Senior Wildwater World Championships, but European Cup races have been postponed to August, September and October. “My plans for the future are to repeat last year's success and to be able to be placed in the top 10 of the World Ranking,” Spasik concluded.
Source: https://javisejuzna.mk/spasik-jas-sum-prviot-makedonec-shampion-vo-evropskiot-kup/
2.6.2020
