The last day in Troja - Slovakian won a gold and a silver, Koplík and Vrzáň won a silver in the C2M
Final runs of women kayak and double canoe men ended today ended the races in Troja, the last part of this year Canoe slalom World Cup serie. In C2M (double canoe men) won the Slovenian team Sašo Taljat and Luka Božic. Czech crew Tomáš Koplík and Jakub Vrzáň (on the picture) gained the silver medal, which was important mainly for winning the third place in the whole World cup serie.
Slovakian definitely triumphed in women kayak competition since the experienced Elena Kaliská speeded for gold and Jana Dukátová for silver. This enlisted her the World Cup trophy as well. It was a bad luck day for Czech participants though. None of them got into the final. The most promising hopes, Štěpánka Hilgertová and Irena Pavelková, had six seconds penalty, which was way too much to allow oneselves in the semifinal.
The bronze medal from the women kayak race was surprisingly won by Russian competitor Marta Khariton. Third place in the men canoe double belongs to the British team David Florence and Richard Hounslow. It was a second bronze medal won by David Florence here in Troja since he was third in the canoe single competition on Saturday.
Both categories brought a lot of surprising twist and turnovers, especially in failure of the world champion Corinna Kuehnle (AUT), who made the unenforced mistakes, when touched even the first gate. Moreover, the world champions in double canoes Pavol and Peter Hoscherners (SVK), who didn't get to the final at all, owing to the fact that they missed the gate. Nontheless, they won the over-all victory in this year World Cup because of their results from the previous races of this serie.
„I believe, that Troja will be hosting not only this spectacular race next year as well, but even the World Championship in the year 2013, which will take place as a part of the 100 year anniversary of Czech canoeing,“ claimed Jaroslav Pollert, the chairman of the Czech Canoe Association, during the closing ceremony.
Detailed information can be found on the official websites of the World Cup in Prague - Troja.