< /p> Illustration photo – Canoeing World Championships, 6 August 2022, Halifax. Kayaker Josef Dostál is the world champion at 500 meters.
Poznań (Poland) – Kayaker Josef Dostál won the 500m at the World Cup in Poznań. The reigning world champion beat Portugal's Fernando Pimento by 32 hundredths of a second and followed up on Saturday's triumph of canoeist Martin Fuksa in the kilometer.
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Today's 500 meter race was Dostála's first A final in the current edition of the Speed Canoe World Cup. He was third halfway through the track, but then he got ahead of all his rivals, including Pimenta, and celebrated his triumph on the popular track.
“The race wasn't quite ideal for me. From the start, it wasn't as convincing a performance as yesterday in the semi-final. I had to drive very sharply. I concentrated a lot on my technique, because I have a little problems with the paddle. When I broke it last year, I I still can't get used to the new,” he said in a recording for the media.
Dostál found out about the gold medal only from the screen after crossing the finish line. In this non-Olympic discipline, he developed an appetite for the 1,000-meter race, where, just like in Szeged, he won only in the B final. . We tuned in a lot for the races, it wasn't completely healthy. I'll have to take it easy now,” reflected the four-time Olympic medalist.
In order to prepare, he will miss some races. His next start will probably not be until the World Championships in Duisburg in August, where places at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris will be won. “We have to start the endurance block again, which will hurt a lot, it will be uncomfortable. But I'm looking forward to it, because I'll give my body a good meal of what it doesn't like, and it will reward me with good results at the World Championships,” he added.
Canoeist Martin Fuksa, who dedicated Saturday's one-kilometer triumph to his recently born daughter Emily, finished seventh in the 500-meter double with his brother Petr. “It wasn't bad, but there was a bit more headwind than in the heat, so the race was a bit longer. I was so stiff in the last hundred meters that I couldn't accelerate. I tried to ride next to the (winning) Italians, but it wasn't possible,” said Petr Fuksa about the race, in which they improved by five places compared to the first SP in Szeged.
According to Martin Fuksa, the brotherly crew still lacks experience from the new Olympic 500m, which they did not ride last year and in which they do not have so many training sessions together. “We still can't satisfy ourselves in the halfway point and rest, as we haven't fully run it. Otherwise, I think it's good that we have the speed, now we can still get a bigger run. It's in contact. The Italians won, who we narrowly beat in the heat, ” he added.
Dostál's partner Anežka Paloudová was also seventh in the women's kayak race at the Olympic pentathlon. Canoeist Martina Malíková took fifth place at the same distance, which in this category does not belong to the Olympic program.
Results of the WC in speed canoeing in Poznań
500 m:
Men:
K1: 1. Dostal 1:41.55, …final C: 2. Humhal (both Czech Republic) 1: 47.56.
C1: 1. Lai Kuang-che (Taiwan) 1:53.50.
K2: 1. Maldonis, Olijnik (Lit.) 1:32.83, …final C: 7. Stejskal, Cerman (Czech Republic) 1:37.04.
C2: 1. Casadei, Tacchini (It.) 1:46.06, …7. P. Fuksa, M. Fuksa (ČR) 1:48.81.
Women:
K1: 1. Jörgensenová (Dan.) 1:53.56, …7. Paloudová (ČR) 1:57.08.
C1: 1. Luzanová (Ukr.) 2:12.92, …5. Malíková (Czech Republic) 2:20.33.
K2: 1. Klattová, Wisňiewská (Poland) 1:44.62.
C2: 1. Sü Sh'-siao, Sun Meng-ja (China) 2:03.22.
Mix:
C2: 1. Braunová, Kitewski (Poland) 1:57.85 .
K2: 1. Portelaová, Pimenta (Portugal) 1:42.33.
