Gabriela Satková is the new European champion in C1
The first to fight for the European medals in Prague on Saturday afternoon were the women canoeists. Only 18-year-old Gabriela Satková was the first from the home paddlers on the start. She showed a superfast run but she had to go back to the gate number 12 and it took her the precious seconds. However, she managed to gain some advantage thanks to the last part of the course. She set the time of 121.75s and took the lead.
Tereza Kneblová also had a wild start of the race. But she had a touch on the gate number 7 and she struggled around the gate number 18 and she had to return. In the end, she had to satisfy with the sixth position.
Tereza Fišerová had an advantage of 1.5 seconds in the middle of the race ahead of Satková, but still, despite the clear race without any mistakes, she ended up 0.3 seconds behind Satková. This was the crucial point when Satková took the European gold and Fišerová had to satisfy with the silver with 122.05 sec. Fišerová also became the next member of the Olympic team for Tokyo 2021 thanks to her position and points gathered during Czech selection in summer.
“I think the silver medals are just my destiny. But I just managed to qualify for the Olympics, so I am over the moon. It was my dream since my childhood. The course was really hard and I was watching the other girls competing. But I am very happy for Gabriela that she won. Me, taking silver, having the flight ticket to Tokyo in my pocket…. I cannot be more satisfied,” said Fišerová.
“It is hard to say just a couple of words to describe my feelings. I still cannot believe it. The run was not without mistakes. I made a fatal mistake at the gate number 12 but luckily, I was able to get back on time and the rest of the course was OK. This is definitely my biggest success of my career as this is my first senior medal,” said Satková, who already has a rich collection of international medals from junior categories.
The bronze medal for Lucie Priouxová of France (130.03s). “I made big mistake in the middle, even though it wasn’t the hardest part of the course, but I messed it up – luckily, the rest of the run was really good and I was happy to manage it. I really enjoyed the course even though it was hard, because you are in the water, with the water, you don’t fight with it, so it is really nice. We will have Olympic selection in three weeks, so we are really happy to have this race before the qualification. It is nice move for me,” said Prioux.