Words by Kimberley Woods.
Great Britain won two medals on the opening day of the U23 and Junior World Championships in Foix.
Upgrading the silver they won last year Sam Leaver, Thomas Mayer and Jonah Hanahran put down an exceptional run in what was a gripping final in the U23 K1 men’s team event. The Brits clocked in with a time of 86.29 and had the wait to see if home favourites could beat their time. The French gained a touch near the top of the course but were still 0.41 ahead on the third split; however, they crossed the finish line 0.05 behind the Brits making Leaver, Mayer and Hanrahan the new 2025 U23 K1M World Champions, a first in British canoe slalom history.
Mayer said “We practised some crossovers on the warm ups and they were pretty good and we nailed them in the run. Sam said all we had to do was deliver 7 & 12 and I’d say we did that pretty well”
The K1 U23 women’s team of Lois Leaver, Ellis Miller & Macy Kang had a fast run and despite two touches at the top they still were in a good position for a medal. At the end of competition they were in the bronze medal position however an exceptionally late enquiry for a 50 second penalty on gate 13 meant sadly they were pushed off the podium and into 12th Place.
The junior teams followed and were looking to make their mark. The British girls, led by Arina Konchakov, followed by Sofia Alfer and Zoe Blythe-Sheilds bringing the speed at the back managed to gain a huge lead of 12 seconds when they crossed the finish line. With an agonising wait of five teams, the Czech team were the only ones who managed that extra edge to claim the world title by 1.32 meaning the British had to settle for silver.
Arina said: “The worlds last year didn’t go exactly to plan so really happy with our paddling today our quality of paddling was amazing and the Czechs did so well to beat us and it was very tight racing.”
The last of the teams to go was the Junior Kayak Men hoping to round the day off positively. Gwion Williams, Dominic Thomas and Harry Kirby set off with hunger. However the rocks caught a few people out today, broken paddles and flips which caught the Brits out as well as the German team. Unfortunately our Brits too, this meant the boys missed out on the podium today.
The day – and championships, started off with the women’s U23 kayak heats where we saw fast times but a lot of penalties. Lois Leaver was comfortably through in 13th place with a sub 100 time alongside Macy Kang in 17th with a 100.62. Unfortunately missing the top 30 cut off, Ellis Miller finished in 34th place just 2.38 off the qualifying time. She will be back in action for redemption in tomorrow’s C1 race.
In the U23 men’s kayak Sam Leaver sits in fifth place with a 84.91, just 1.31 seconds off the lead with a 2 second penalty
He said: “I wanted to start the championships with a solid run to make me feel comfortable, I made some tactical decisions within the run to kind of practise for the semis and finals. I thought there was a little bit of time in it here and there, it wasn’t perfect but it is only heats so there’s lots to work on and look forward to for the rest of the week. ”
Jonah Hanrahan also put a promising run early on finishing 12th with a clean run and a time of 86.48. Tom Mayer looked strong throughout the course but finished joint 39th with 2 touches meaning he will not progress through to Thursday’s semi-final.
The course looked more challenging for the juniors and we only saw six clean runs throughout the whole class of the junior kayak women. Sofia Alfer and Arina Kontchakov found the course a little tricky but they both are safely into the semi-final in 21st and 23rd.
Zoe Blythe-Shields was sitting in 8th place with a respectable run until a late 50 second penalty was put onto the up right gate 6 which sadly pushed her down into 47th place, she will however be back in tomorrow’s C1 racing.
Gwion Williams set down a great run of 87.42, a time that would have been 19th in the U23 category and he is safely into the semi-final in 7th place.
Harry Kirby was first off in the junior kayak men but with 2 touches he finished in 32nd place just outside with touches proving it costly.
There was a little drama near the start as the water levels started to drop dramatically meaning a few paddlers had the chance to have a re-run.
Dealing with changes to the schedule is always tricky especially after having done a run, you have to then reset and warm up again to then get mentally ready for another run. One of those paddlers was Dominic Tomas, the water level rose higher than the racing earlier in the day so he had to prepare again for different water levels, it can make a big difference because the water is faster making the course that little bit more difficult, after his re run he did a 114 with 6 seconds worth of penalties finishing in 52nd place.
We will see both Harry and Dominic back in action in Saturday’s Kayak Cross Individual time trial.
Day 1 Round Up
U23
K1W
Lois Leaver 13th through to SF
Macy Kang 17th through to SF
Ellis Miller 34th
K1M
Sam Leaver 5th through to SF
Jonah Hanrahan 12th through to SF
Thomas Mayer 39th
Junior
K1W
Sofia Alfer 21st through to SF
Arina Kontchakov 23rd through to SF
Zoe Blythe-Shields 47th
K1M
Gwion Williams 7th through to SF
Harry Kirby 32nd
Dominic Thomas 52nd
Teams
K1M U23 GOLD
K1W Junior SILVER
K1W U23 12th
K1M Junior 20th
We are back in action tomorrow with the C1’s starting at 08:40 (CET) with the U23 Canoe Women.
Follow the results here.