Huningue, north suburb of Swiss city Basel, but located on the French side of the border, hosted the Canoe Slalom World Ranking race which was also the first race of the 2022 ECA European Open Canoe Slalom Cup series.
On the opening day of the race competitiors from Switzerland, Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Slovakia, Belgium and Algeria started in the heats to qualify for Sunday’s semifinal.
In men’s canoe Liam Jegou from Ireland produced the fastest run of the day to win first place in heats, ahead of Swiss competitor Thomas Koechlin and German canoeist Lennard Tuscherer.
In women’s kayak Olympic and World Champion Ricarda Funk (GER) won the heats ahead of Italian representative Stefanie Horn and German Andrea Herzog (GER).
Herzog was the fastest in women’s canoe heats, to advance without a problem to the semifinal. Elena Lilik (GER) was second and Martina Satkova (CZE) third.
In men’s kayak heats Swiss paddlers took all the first three places in this event. Martin Dougoud crossed the finish line ahead of Manuel Munsch and Jan Rohrer.
Semifinals and finals are scheduled for Sunday.
26.3.2022
