Szeged – Hungary, July 22, 2014: Emma Jørgensen (DEN) and Anna Kárász (HUN) both won two gold medals in the K1 200m and 500m in their respective age categories on the final day of action at the 2014 ICF Junior and U23 Canoe Sprint World Cup in Szeged, Hungary.
This is the second occasion that Jørgensen has managed to dominate the podium in the junior age group after achieving the same feat just 12 months ago in Welland, Canada.
Now a quadruple Junior World Champion, the 18-year-old Dane was emotional about what she had just achieved, describing it as amazing.
Referring to her victory in the K1 Junior Women 200m, she said, “I didn’t expect to win because the other girls are good. In the middle of the race I wasn’t sure of my position so I said to myself it’s now or never.”
This approach also gave the young superstar the edge in the K1 Junior Women 500m where she managed to summon every last ounce of energy to overhaul Rebeka Simon (GBR) on the line after the pair yo-yoed between first and second for much of the final third of the race.
Despite illness coming into the championships, Kárász made light work of her two events deploying her vast competition experience to devastating effect to convincingly win the K1 Women U23 200m and 500m.
It’s clear that the talented youngster is being pushed by those around her, including the multiple-Olympic medalist, Danuta Kozak, who is ahead of Kárász in the hugely competitive Hungarian national team.
“I expected to win here. I thought, if at home, I can be second to Danuta in the K1 boat this [the K1 500m final] won’t be a problem for me.”
Sure enough it wasn’t a problem, with the second of her gold medals coming in convincing fashion as she led by a boat length throughout the race.
Kárász compatriots also continued to offer the capacity crowd something to cheer as Hungarian after Hungarian took the top step of the podium winning a spectacular seven golds to add to their three from Saturday’s finals.
One of these was Olympian, Miklós Dudás, who won the K1 Men U23 200m. “I am happy to win this gold medal in K1 because we did not succeed in the K2 final today. We did a mistake, my leg slipped, we lost balance and we finished fourth. The K1 final was a perfect race and ideal preparation for the senior world championships in Moscow in three weeks, which are my main objective this season.”
Emma Jørgensen (DEN) and Anna Kárász (HUN) won two gold medals each in the K1W 200m and 500m in their respective age categories on the final day of action at the 2014 ICF Junior and U23 Canoe Sprint World Cup in Szeged, Hungary.
This is the second occasion that Jørgensen has managed to dominate the podium in the junior age group after achieving the same feat just 12 month ago in Welland, Canada.
Now a quadruple Junior World Champion, the 18-year-old Dane was emotional about what she had just achieved, describing it as amazing.
Referring to her victory in the K1 Junior Women 200m, she said, “I didn’t expect to win because the other girls are good. In the middle of the race I wasn’t sure of my position so I said to myself it’s now or never.”
This approach also gave the young superstar the edge in the K1 Junior Women 500m where she managed to summon every last ounce of energy to overhaul Rebeka Simon (GBR) on the line after the pair yo-yoed between first and second for much of the final third of the race.
Despite illness coming into the championships, Kárász made light work of her two events deploying her vast competition experience to devastating effect to convincingly win the K1 Women U23 200m and 500m.
It’s clear that the talented youngster is being pushed by those around her, including the multiple-Olympic medalist, Danuta Kozak, who is ahead of Kárász in the hugely competitive Hungarian national team.
“I expected to win here. I thought, if at home, I can be second to Danuta in the K1 boat this [the K1 500m final] won’t be a problem for me.”
Sure enough it wasn’t a problem, with the second of her gold medals coming in convincing fashion as she led by a boat length throughout the race.
Kárász compatriots also continued to offer the capacity crowd something to cheer as Hungarian after Hungarian took the top step of the podium winning a spectacular seven golds to add to their three from Saturday’s finals.
One of these was Olympian, Miklós Dudás, who won the K1 Men U23 200m. “I am happy to win this gold medal in K1 because we did not succeed in the K2 final today. We did a mistake, my leg slipped, we lost balance and we finished fourth. The K1 final was a perfect race and ideal preparation for the senior world championships in Moscow in three weeks, which are my main objective this season.”
Fastest on the planet
Lithuania’s Henrikas Zustautas was triumphant in the C1 Men 200m after setting the world’s fastest time in yesterday’s semifinal, 38.269.
“I did not do anything special to prepare this competition, I just work very hard at home. It was not an easy race. I decided to start the first 50 meters quite relaxed and to give it all on the last 150 meters. I will not go to Moscow for the world championships because Evgeny Shuklin will represent Lithuania. I will do my best to go there next year, and to Rio of course.”
Russia Impress
Overjoyed by winning her first U23 event the new C1 Women champion, Irina Andreeva (RUS) said, “This is fantastic! I was prepared and ready for this world championships. All the work paid up. I am training in a canoe training camp next to Moscow, only with C1, C2, C4 specialists.”
“I have paddled in a kayak for three years and I kept asking my coach why women could not do canoe. So the day canoe women was included in the programme of the world championships I started training straight away. It has been four years now. I am only 19-years-old now, I still have three more years in U23 so I have time to become even better. This year I am very excited because I am born in Moscow and I will compete at the world championships at home in the C1 200m.”
Russia have been exceptionally successful at the championships winning 15 medals. Evgenii Lukantsov, who won gold in the K2 Men U23 200m with Mikhail Tamonov, talked about the difficulties of breaking into the highly competitive Russian senior team.
“We know there is a lot of competition for places in Russia in the K2 200m, but training and competing with people like Postrigay helps us grow and improve and will help us beat them one day. The ultimate goal is the Olympic medal. But before that I will race in Moscow next month in the K1 200m relay.”
Spain Collect K4 Double
Three boats dominated proceeding in the K4 Junior Men 1000m final, but it was a late surge from Spain that overhauled Russia – who led up to the 750 metre mark – to claim victory. Australia collected bronze.
Ramón Lecumberri (ESP), a member of the winning quartet, commented, “We had a great race today. We knew the Russians were really strong and they were in front of us the whole race but we managed to progressively accelerate and we had enough in us to finish first. The last medal for Spain in K4 was four years ago so it is good to win again. Now we’re going to celebrate here in Szeged.
Following their compatriots lead, the Spanish U23 Men K4 team also took gold. “It was inspiring to see the Junior K4 win the gold earlier today, we told ourselves, we cannot do less. We’ve trained together only for one month and a half so that’s quite a performance really.”
The championships now move to Portugal where they will be contested at the venue in Montemor-O-Velho late July. —- ICF
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