Words by Kimberley Woods
Lois Leaver claimed another U23 World Championships medal in what has been a fantastic season so far for the Scot.
Despite picking up a couple of penalties in the semi final and a 50 second penalty which was reviewed and taken off, Leaver qualified comfortably into the final in 5th position.
She went on to put an incredible fast run down after changing her plan tactically to help carry more speed between gates 7-9.
She stormed into the lead with a time of 94.42 which was over 2 seconds quicker than the semi-final time.
However Eva-Alina Hocevar from Slovenia put down an outstanding run to take the lead from Leaver with a time of 93.76. USA’s Evy Leibfarth was over 2 seconds faster on the last split but lost a little time on the bottom slotting in between Hocevar and Leaver to take silver.
“It feels absolutely insane to get another bronze medal this year. I wasn’t feeling very good between the semi’s and finals, so I’m happy to come and put a run down that’s top of the field and the girls did absolutely amazing runs”
“It felt like there was nothing to lose and I changed my tactics and went for a double spin instead, and I’m glad that it paid off” said Leaver.
Sam Leaver made the final with a quick run placing him in 5th position with a time of 84.59. With time to gain to get on the podium it is about knowing your risk vs rewards and ensuring you keep the boat moving and staying clean.
Leaver went 2 seconds quicker than his semi final time however picked up a 2 second penalty early on gate 5.
“It’s pretty frustrating, especially the gate that I did it on because I’d identified that as being a risk and an unnecessary risk to take. Just natural reaction in the moment, putting in my left blade because it kind of felt right but pushed my bow into the pole”
“Two years in a row now a touch has cost me a medal, so I guess there is an area to improve on.”
Home favourite and Olympic silver medallist from Paris, Titouan Castryck, was looking to take home the crown on his home course putting an incredibly fast time of 79.28 but then picking up a penalty on gate 6 putting the win at risk however his fast time enabled to take the win from Italy’s Xabier Ferazzi by only 0.14, Czechs Jakub Krejci claimed bronze.
With the slalom finished for Sam Leaver he now puts his focus on resting and preparing for the Kayak Cross at the weekend.
“Coming into the kayak cross as the number 1 ranked, I definitely want to try take two wins across the time trial and head to head especially on a course like this where it’s could become more scrappy, which is what I can do” said Leaver.
photo by Romain Bruneau
Making her first final was Sofia Alfer, in the kayak women juniors, despite picking up 4 seconds of penalties early on in the course, on gates 4 & 5, she continued to push all the way down, catching her edge a little in some key places losing the tracking of the boat.
She pushed hard to finish placed 6th which is a huge personal best for her.
Poland’s Hania Danek improved her silver medal from last year’s world championships to claim Gold here in Foix by 0.19, with Czech’s Barbora Ondrackova in 2nd and Germany’s Mina Blume in 3rd.
Gwion Williams made his mark in the semifinals placing in second, the finals certainly stepped up on the times but messy runs from the finalists made it hard to call who was going to be the winner.
This time Czech’s Michal Kopecek claimed the title because he kept a clean run ahead of favourite Ziga Lin Hocevar (Slovenia) and France’s Titouan Estanguet who both had penalties.
Williams was unable to beat his semifinal time and with a 2 second penalty he felt the run got away from him at the bottom feeling scrappy and very physical, he finished a respectable 8th place, a personal best.
Arina Kontchakov put down a smooth run in the junior semi final but losing a little running speed on the boat in the double spin section on 12 & 13, a little too much time to be able to get back, being on the wrong side of the bubble finishing in 14th place just 0.27 off the final.
Macy Kang gave it her all on what is a physical course, few too many penalties racking up not allowing her to progress unfortunately putting her in 18th place
Jonah Hanrahan was extremely fast and agile at the top 15 gates but seemed to lose a little gas on the bottom picking up penalties, miss timing his stroke through 20 causing it to go the wrong side of his head resulting in finishing down in 30th.
Day 3 Round Up
K1W U23
Lois Leaver BRONZE
Macy Kang 18th
K1M U23
Sam Leaver 7th
Jonah Hanrahan 30th
K1W Junior
Sofia Alfer 6th
Arina Kontchakov 14th
K1M Junior
Gwion Williams 8th
We are back in action in the C1’s tomorrow starting at 9:10 (CET)
Live results can be found here
Live Feed (as a Plant Canoe member) here