2003 World Freestyle Kayak Championships – Report 22, May 25

Competition Day 1

The stands were full, the music was loud, and their was plenty of electricity in the air as the first boats, got the green light, the clock started, and the crowds cheering. Today the OC1, Junior Women, and the C1 classes competed in their preliminary rounds.

Five OC1 paddlers, five Junior Women, and ten C1 paddlers advanced to the next rounds. The hole, which has been super retentive since I arrived here a month ago, is was not so retentive when adrenaline charged athletes entered with hopes of doing big and multiple moves. The theme of the day seemed to be jitters getting in the way of many who had much better practice sessions than their competition rides. That was not the case for those who made the next round, of course. Luke Hopkins had an awesome first ride to win the opening round, with Brock Flowers of Australia, Barry Keenan, and Bill McNight right on their heels. Dan Burke had a dissapointing performance, considering he was one of the best in practice. All in all a great mix of countries advancing.

OC1

In the OC1 class David Bell showed up the competion with Clean cartwheels and linked ends to crush everybody in the first round. A little kid made a big debut with 15 year old Seth Chappelle getting 5th and moving on to the next round, he celebrated his second ride when he came out of the hole with lots of enthusiasm.

K1 Women Junior

Katerina Migdauova shocked the spectators with aggressive controlled rides that were awesome. Cleans, Splits, and nearly a Tricky woo on each ride. Lianne Wagtho from the Netherlands had a first ride that was equally impressive with lots of great vertical ends, but blew out entirely on her second ride. Ali Wade and Hanna Farrar both made the top 5 for the US each with their own style. Ali had one awesome ride and a short one, while Hanna had two consistent rides. Either way they move on! Michelle Clifford from Canada was training really well but the jitters got her and she flushed downstream before showing us here stuff, the same happened with Brooke Bevan who was quite simply the bravest of the junior women in the early training here.

Tonight is the opening ceremonies and tomorrow is Junior men, K1 women, and squirt. Men start on Wednesday and finish on Thursday, I am the last to go, oh boy!

C1 Men Prelims Results

Top 10 go on to Semi-finals!

OC1 Results

K1 Junior Women