Future on show in Slovenia

The stars of the future will be on full display this week when the International Canoe Federation hosts the U23 and junior canoe slalom world championships in Slovenia.

Paddlers who have their sights set on the Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028 will test themselves on one of the toughest slalom courses in the world, on the eve of the Tokyo Olympics.

Just one Tokyo-bound athlete – USA’s Evy Leibfarth – will compete in Tacen, opening the door for a plethora of world-class young athletes to gain important racing experience. A full programme of events, including team competitions and extreme canoe slalom, will be run over six days.

Every junior and U23 male C1 world champion since 2017 will be in action in Slovenia, including Slovakia’s three-time world champion, Marko Mirgorodsky. The 22-year-old was junior world champion in 2015 and 2016, and was crowned U23 world champion in 2017.

France’s Nicolas Gestin returns to defend the U23 world title he won in 2019, while Czech 2018 world champion Vaclav Chaloupka will also take to the whitewater again.

Slovenia’s Nejc Polencic won the junior world title in 2019, and steps up to U23 competition this year, while Spain’s Miquel Trave, a 2018 C1 junior world title holder, will contest both the canoe and the kayak competition.

Poland’s Kacper Sztuba, world junior champion from 2017, rounds out the list of former world champions who will contest a very open men’s U23 C1 competition.

In women’s canoe, two-time junior champion Gabriela Satkova gets her chance to take on the older age-group, a field which will include several athletes with senior world cup experience.

Likewise in the women’s K1, 2017 and 2019 ICF junior world champion Antonie Galuskova of the Czech Republic will finally get the opportunity to test herself against the U23’s, and will be joined by Slovenia’s 2018 junior world champion, Eva Alina Hocevar.

The women’s U23 kayak field is also full of athletes with strong senior form, including 2020 ICF world cup gold medalist Romane Prigent of France, and the highly rated German Elena Apel.

In the men’s K1, 2019 junior world champion, Anatole Delassus of France, and 2018 junior champion, Jan Barta of the Czech Republic, will line-up in the U23 competition against a field which includes Italy’s 2018 U23 world champion, Jakob Weger.

The 2021 ICF junior and U23 world championships begin on Tuesday with team competitions. The event will be live streamed on the ICF webpage.

Source: https://www.canoeicf.com/news/future-show-slovenia

Ljubljana bo gostila najboljše mlade svetovne slalomiste na divjih vodah

Ljubljana, natančneje kajakaška proga v Tacnu, bo med 6. in 11. julijem gostila ICF svetovno prvenstvo v slalomu na divjih vodah za mladince in mlajše člane.

Okoli 300 tekmovalk in tekmovalcev iz 33 držav se bo za naslove svetovnih prvakov v starostnih kategorijah mladincev in mlajših članov potegovalo med ponedeljkom in nedeljo. Prvi tekmovalni dan, v torek, jih čakajo ekipne tekme, od srede do sobote pa so na vrsti kvalifikacijske, polfinalne in finalne posamične vožnje kajakašic, kajakašev, kanuistk in kanuistov. V nedeljo na savske brzice prihaja doza adrenalina, saj se bo prvenstvo zaključilo s preizkušnjami v ekstremnem slalomu na divjih vodah, ki bo leta 2024 v Parizu prvič tudi del programa olimpijskih iger.

Za kolajne in najvišja mesta se bo potegovalo 25 mladih slovenskih reprezentantk in reprezentantov, med njimi tudi Eva Alina Hočevar in Nejc Polenčič. Oba sta v preteklih izvedbah že postala svetovna mladinska prvaka. Eva Alina Hočevar leta 2018 v ženskem kajaku, Nejc Polenčič pa leto kasneje v moškem kanuju.

Veseli nas, da bomo končno na prizorišču lahko pozdravili tudi naše zveste navijače, a bodo ti zaradi trenutnih omejitev, ki veljajo v Sloveniji, morali izpolnjevati PCT pogoj.

SLOVENSKA REPREZENTANCA

K1m U23C1ž U23C1m U23XKm U23XKž U23
Tine KanclerEva Alina HočevarNejc PolenčičTine KanclerEva Alina Hočevar
Ulan ValantLea NovakJuš JavornikMarko PetekLea Novak
Lan TomincSara GlobokarUrh TurnšekUlan Valant 
Erazem Šavli
K1m ML.C1ž ML.C1m ML.XKm ML.XKž ML.
Jan LočnikarAsja JugMartin GaleJakob ŠavliNaja Pinterič
Urban GajšekNaja PinteričAdam KrižajTit ŠenkSara Globokar
Jakob ŠavliEma LampičTit ŠenkMartel StušekEma Lampič

Program prvenstva: https://slalomtacen.com/programprogramme/

Vstopnice/obiskovalci: https://slalomtacen.com/vstopnicetickets/