WC races in water slalom, semi-final K1 men, June 9, 2023, Prague. Jiří Prskavec from the Czech Republic.
Prague – Olympic water slalom champion Jiří Prskavec found a way to manage the transition between two categories during the World Cup in Troy. Between the morning's canoe qualification and the afternoon's culmination of the kayak race, he took advantage of his parents' facilities and rested in front of the TV and an audiobook. Then he followed up his win in the qualification and dominated the semi-finals and final.
Advertisement'; }
Photo gallery: Water slalom races 2023
< /p>
< /p>
He learned from last week, when in Augsburg he completed the combination of kayak and canoe for the first time on the international stage. After qualifying, he had already released the canoe completely. “I immediately went to our family, they live about ten minutes from here in Čimice. I had about seven hours between the races. I spent maybe four there, my mother brought me lunch there. I tried to be completely outside for three hours, so I let myself something on TV to take my head somewhere else. I listened to an audiobook for a while to close my eyes,” he told reporters.
This made him more in tune with his favorite kayak than a week ago. “It is necessary for the body to rest. It is terribly difficult not to watch, for example, the second round of singles and so on. All this must go away, because in that Augsburg I felt that the head was tired to the core,” he confided.< /p>
And he was slowly getting ready to prepare for Saturday's canoe semi-final. “The basis is to let go of what was and focus on what will be. Now I will try to turn it around and not look at how the race looked, even though I would really like to see how nice it was. But I have to put it behind me and focus on how I will go canoeing tomorrow and think about it like a canoeist,” he planned with the gold medal around his neck.
In addition to it, he received a number of material prizes. Among other things, a photo printer that his wife wanted. “The printer is a wonderful bonus,” praised Prskavec. His wife helped him when he had to get up at six in the morning to prepare for the canoeists' qualification. She walked the dog herself. “She was great in the morning. She also made me breakfast. I had millet porridge. She really wanted the printer,” said the thirty-year-old water slalom skier with a smile. “It's wonderful. Then you really appreciate it when crowds of people gather here for the announcement and applaud us. It's a terrible award, we fought it out with Vítek (Přindiš, who finished second) until the last moment and it was a beautiful race.” you enjoyed He was satisfied with all three kayak rides he performed in Prague. “It was sliding, it was going the way I had imagined it in my head. Of course, that's always a pleasure and I'm happy about it,” he added.
