Milan – Italy, May 3, 2014: first medals, China’s Zhou Yu was certainly one of those new stars, as the 25-year-old became the first of a new wave of athletes from China to win gold on the International Stage; she showed great composure to close out the K1 Women 1000m final ahead of the experienced Beata Mikolajczyk (POL).
China also secured a second medal in the K2 Women 1000m, where they gained silver behind the Romanian duo of Irina Lauric and Bianca Plesca.
Earlier, the talented Lisa Carrington (NZL) added further to her impressive medal tally securing her third K1 Women 500m gold in a row following success at the Racice and Poznan World Cups last season.
Max Hoff (GER), again, started the season with a dominant display of power combined with composure to hold off world-class competitors and secure gold in the K1 Men 1000m. In the same race quickest qualifier, Portugal’s Fernando Pimenta, was just edged into bronze following a late push from Denmark’s Rene Holten Poulsen.
Fellow German, Sebastian Brendel also looked strong and took the top step on the podium in the C1 Men 1000m Final. The young Brazilian superstar, Isaqu Santos Dos Queiroz secured silver and it was a welcome return to the podium for Canada’s Mark Oldershaw, who stepped up to take bronze.
Polish duos combined to win both the men’s C2 1000m and K2 1000m. In the C2 Tomasz Kaczor and Vincent Slominski won an all eastern-European battle against Czech and Romanian pairs, who finished with silver and bronze respectively.
Meanwhile, the K2 partnership of Pawel Szandrach and Mariusz Kujawski were too strong for the Australian duo of Murray Stewart and Jacob Clear and won convincingly over the last third.
However, locals Giulio Dressino and Matteo Torneo were the stars of the race securing Italy’s first medal of the day when the 20-year-olds crossed the line in third.
The jubilation spilled over into the K4 Men 1000m final where the Italian crew secured silver. The Spanish quartet of Javier Hernanz Agueria, Rodrigo Germande Oscar Carrera and Inigo Pene won gold and where suitably pleased with their efforts at the finish line stating, “ This is our first medal as a team we are very happy and hope we can go on to win more. Our ambition is the World Championships in Moscow.”
The Hungarian duo, Gabriella Szabo and Ninetta Vad won the K2 Women 500m.
Further heats and semifinals are being contested this afternoon with the remaining ‘A’ Finals scheduled for 9:00am CET Sunday 4 May.
Medal Winners
K1 Women 500m
1. Lisa Carrington (NZl)
2. Franziska Weber (GER)
3. Yvonne Schuring (AUT)
K2 Women 500m
1. Gabriella Szabo / Ninetta Vad (HUN)
2. Marta Walczykiewicz / Edyta Dzieniszewska (POL)
3. Conny Wassmuth / Tina Dietze (GER)
K1 Men 1000m
1. Max Hoff (GER)
2. Rene Holten Poulsen (DEN)
3. Fernando Pimenta (POR)
C1 Men 1000m
1. Sebastian Brendel (GER)
2. Isaqu Santos Dos Queiroz (BRA)
3. Mark Oldershaw (CAN)
K2 Men 1000m
1. Pawel Szandrach / Mariusz Kujawski (POL)
2. Murray Stewart / Jacob Clear (AUS)
3. Giulio Dressino / Matteo Torneo (ITA)
C2 Men 1000m
1. Tomasz Kaczor / Vincent Slominski (POL)
2. Jaroslav Radon / Filip Dvorak (CZE)
3. Liviu Dumitrescu Lazar / Victor Mihalachi (ROU)
K1 Women 1000m
1. Zhou Yu (CHN)
2. Beata Mikolajczyk (POL)
3. Ewelina Wojnarowska (POL)
K2 Women 1000m
1. Irina Lauric (ROU) / Bianca Plesca (ROU)
2. Dongyin Li (CHN) / Zhangli Li (CHN)
3.Agnieszka Kowalczyk / Anna Wlosik (POL)
K4 Men 1000m
1. Javier Hernanz Agueria / Rodrigo Germande / Oscar Carrera / Inigo Pene (ESP)
2. Nicola Ripamonti / Albino Battelli / Alberto Ricchetti / Mauro Crenna (ITA)
3. Marek Krajcovic / Matej Michalek / Gabor Jakubik / Viktor Demin (SVK). —- ICF
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