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.

Final results from the canoe double men final do not correspond that much with those of semifinal. The winners of the semifinal, David Schroeder and Frank Henze ended up tenth due to both, a slow run and especially missing one gate. Czech crew Tomáš Koplík a Jakub Vrzáň, that wasn't as promising as Czech hopes for winning in the K1W category, actually won the silver medal, by which they cheered up a bit disappointed spectators. Slovenian team Sašo Tatjat a Luka Božic however won the final with the fastest time 100.86. Even though they started as the second crew, they were faster than a Czech pair for more than two seconds. We could have seen the third man of canoe race David Florence winning his second bronze in Troja with his colleague Richard Hounslow. They finished in a time 103.34. The over-all winners of this year World Cup serie are Peter and Pavol Hochschornerovi (SVK). Even though they didn't get into the final, excellent results from the previous races guaranteed them this victory.

Slovakian competitors hold both, first and secon place from the K1W final that had a dramatic ending. Elena Kaliska (on the picture), a really experienced kayaker, won the gold medal with the best time 105.59. Jana Dukátová won the silver medal (time 106.04, 2 seconds penalty), thanks to which she gained even this year victory in the World Cup serie. Surprisingly, the bronze medal belong to the Russian canoeist Marta Khariton, who finished the course in 106.71 seconds. However, the winner of the semifinal runs, Claudia Baer lost the medal for a mere nine hundredths of a second.

The second day of the Canoe Slalom World Cup in Troja was enriched by the gold run of the kayaker Vavřinec Hradílek. To mention other really successful Czech canoeists: Kateřina Hošková gained the silver medal, albeit down fourth, Stanislav Ježek's place attached him the over-all victory in this year World Cup as this is the last race of the whole serie.

VIDEO  The first day in the canoe slalom World Cup Troja ended up being extraordinarily succesful for Czech canoeists – each one of them is going to participate in the semifinals in every single category. Except for canoe double, Czech paddlers always gave the lead to the qualification – Vavřinec Hradílek and Irena Pavlíková in kayak competition, and Kateřina Hošková and Stanislav Ježek in single canoes.

Men kayak turned out to be a continuation of the struggle between Vavřinec Hradílek (CZE) and the current world champion Daniele Molmenti (ITA). However, the Italian kayaker, who started as the last one thanks to his victory in the semifinal, wasn't able to overcome Hradílek's time (88.60) in the dramatic ending. Nonetheless, the difference was a mere 5 hundreths of a second. Thus, Vavřinec Hradílek will be given the gold medal, and Molmenti the silver one.

Australian Rosalyn Lawrence was the best in the women canoe single final with a time 118.10. Thanks to that, she gained the over-all victory in the World Cup series as her strongest rival Leanne Guinea (AUS) ended up down sixth.

 

Kateřina Hošková (CZE), the leader of all the previous runs, crossed the finish line in the second fastest time 121.20. Caroline Loir (FRA) won the bronze medal.