Illustrative photo – 1st race of the Czech Cup in water slalom and at the same time 1st nomination race on the slalom channel Trnávka, May 6, 20232 Želiv, Pelhřimovsko. Jiří Prskavec was third in the men's kayak category.
Augsburg (Germany) – The first day of the opening World Cup in water slalom did not bring medals to the Czech kayakers. Today's best result in Augsburg was achieved by Olympic champion Jiří Prskavec, who took fifth place. World champion Vít Přindiš just missed the final.
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Prskavec concluded an extremely demanding day with a final kayak ride, during which he completed four rides. In the morning, he rode twice in the canoe qualification, with which he made his debut on the international scene. Then he succeeded in the semi-finals in his excellent discipline. It is said that he did not lack strength in the final. “I think that apart from maybe being mentally, psychologically tired, I didn't notice it on my (final) run. I think I had it,” he said in a recording for the media.
He paid for mistakes in the ninth and tenth goals, for which he received a total of four penalty seconds. This left him more than a second off the medal despite having the second fastest net time. Only the victorious Italian Giovanni de Gennaro was 32 hundredths faster on the track. “You can't win with two pokes,” commented Prskavec.
Twenty-one-year-old Jakub Krejčí made it to the finals right at his first start in the World Cup. He had an excellent start to the final race, but then lost, received two penalty seconds and was 47 hundredths behind his more famous representative colleague Prskavec. He took sixth place. “I was happy to make it to the final. Unfortunately, it wasn't as nice as the ride before when I left. I was a bit more tired,” he said.
Returning to the place where he won the world title for the first time in his career last year did not turn Prindiš into a final participation. He finished eleventh in the semi-finals, just nine hundredths behind the top ten. He lost the fight for medals mainly because of a mistake in the last anti-water goal.
Of the trio of Czech kayakers, only Tereza Fišerová made it to the finals, taking third place in the semi-finals. However, she did not follow up on her performance in the race for medals and finished sixth with a loss of 7.75 seconds to the winning local kayaker Elena Liliková. “It didn't quite slide as I would have imagined. The top third was still quite good, in the second I already lost quite a bit. And in the last counterwind it didn't work out for me like in the semi-final run, I left a few seconds there and still nudged it . But I'm satisfied that I'm sixth,” she commented on her performance. He can still fight for a medal on Saturday in the canoe and on Sunday in the kayak cross.
The World Cup in Augsburg is a warm-up for the Czech slalomers for the home race of the elite series, which will be hosted by Troja in Prague in a week.
< p>SP in water slalom in Augsburg (Germany):
Men:
K1: 1. De Gennaro (It.) 90.71 (0 tr. seconds), 2. Clarke (Brit.) -2.98 (2), 3. Aigner (Germany) -3.03 (0), . ..5. Sparkler -4.32 (4), 6. Krejčí -4.79 (2), in the semi-finals 11. Přindiš (all Czech Republic).
Women:
K1: 1. Liliková (German) 101 .66 (0), 2. Hornová (It.) -4.29 (2), 3. Wolffhardtová (Austria) -4.48 (0), …6. Fišerová -7.75 (2), in the semifinal 12. Hilgertová, 23. A. Galušková (all Czech Republic).
