4th World University Canoe Sprint Championship
Poznan, Poland - August 27th to 29th, 2010
For the 4th edition of the World University Canoe Sprint Championships, the organizers enjoyed registering a record attendance.
Imagine a lake, a bit more than 2 kilometres long reserved for row boats, canoes and kayaks, just a few hundred yards from the city of Poznan. This magnificent facility surrounded by trees and lawns was the venue of the 4th edition of the World University Canoe Sprint Championships.
Canoe sprint, formerly called flat-water canoeing, benefited from this lovely setting that has hosted many international competitions as well as our World University Rowing Championships that have already taken place here on two occasions. It must be said that the "Malta Regatta Course" is one of the most modern infrastructures in the world for this kind of competition.
After Zagreb (CRO), Bari (ITA) and Belgrade (SRB), canoe sprint came to Poznan in 2010.
And even before the first day of the competition, the teams were training hard on the body of water. The participants were at very top level – some of them had stayed on from the ICF (International Canoe Federation) World Championship that had taken place at the same spot just a few days earlier.
In all 23 delegations (244 contestants) were enrolled, including a number of well-known athletes like the Hungarian champion Ninetta Vad, silver medal winner in the women's K1 at the ICF World Championships or the Russian Pavel Petrov who took bronze in the same event for men. Canoeing and kayaking are extremely popular in Central and Eastern Europe, so many champion come from these regions.
The Mayor of Poznan, Mr. Ryszard Grobelny personally launched the World University Championships at the opening ceremony on the banks of the lake.
The first day's race was run under a very cloudy sky, but fortunately there was no rain. For all the teams, this was an opportunity to try to qualify directly without having to apply for repechage, so there was quite a show under the watchful eye of Elly Müller, Mrs. Canoe sprint. Mrs. Muller supervised our championship officially for the third time as the technical delegate sent by ICF. In fact, this Dutch woman has been overseeing canoeing races since 1978. She has attended five Olympic Games and countless world or regional events that take advantage of her long experience. She was the one supervising the canoeing organization at the Olympic Games in Athens. In any case, the FISU canoeing delegate Mr. Zeljko Rajkovic has nothing but praise for her. "When she is there, I can almost go watch the races from the bleachers". (...) "More seriously, it is enough to see how respected she is by the delegations to realize that when she is in charge, all the technical aspects of the competition will be managed to perfection.
A strong wind cleared the sky for the second day of races when the contestants met for the first eight finals. From the start, the Romanian C2-1000 m team set the pace and took the final with total mastery. Lazar Dinitrescu and Victor Mihalachi showed they were the world's best on that distance. Their compatriots did the same for the C4-1000 m. Gheoca, Simmion, Comanici and Bogdan, who had already won the ICF World Championships a week earlier, left little hope to the Hungarian and Polish teams that finished respectively second and third. For K1-1000m, Serbian Tomasevic (who finished 5th at the ICF WC) took the day.
Then the Polish festival got started, as the host country won three finals in a row. Ewelina Wodnawroska took gold in K1-500m, Thomas Kaszor prevailed in the C1-1000 and Mariusz Kujawiski and his teammate Marci Nickowski finished the scene by winning the K2-1000 m gold medal.
Finally, the last two finals for the day were almost ties. Just 9 hundredths of a second separated Belarus, the winning team in the men's K4-1000m from the Romanians, who took silver. Along the same lines, 36 hundredths of a second were enough to determine the three finalists for the woman's K-1000m: gold – Czech Republic, silver – Hungary, bronze – Poland.
The last day of the races was divided into 2 parts: the finals for the 500m in the morning and, for the first time, the 200m in the afternoon.
For the 500m, after a Slovakian victory in the men's K1 with Peter Gelle and a Serbian win for the women with the Moldovan sisters (K2), there was a new festival – Romanian this time. C2, C4 and K4 all went to the Romanian masters who confirmed the results they had already clocked up a week earlier at the ICF championships.
The particularly spectacular 200m lived up to every promise. It was very interesting to see how physically demanding these sprints could be. As is often the case when the distance changes, the winning countries also change, which is what happened here with the victories of Latvia (men's K1 and K2), Ukraine (women's K1), Brazil (men's C1), Slovakia (women's K2), Hungary (men's K4), Belarus (women's K4), Russia (men's C4) and finally Romania (men's C2).
Romania took the day without a challenge when it comes to medals won: 6 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze. Poland comes just behind with 13 medals but "only" 4 gold, 2 silver and 7 bronze.
Next time we go to Kazan, Russia for the next edition of the World University Canoe Sprint Championships which will be a test run for the 2013 Universiade where the sport will be on the list of optional disciplines.
Organizing Committee
Organizacja Środowiskowa AZS
Ul. Noskowskiego 25
61-705 Poznań
Tel: +48 61 8530 360
fax: +48 61 8529 817
e-mail: office@fisucanoesprint2010.poznan.pl
URL: www.fisucanoesprint2010.poznan.pl
FISU Technical Chair
News
26 Aug 10 - 4th WUC Canoe Sprint Update: A World Top Class Venue
27 Aug 10 - 2010 WUC Canoe Sprint Update: Meetings and Opening
27 Aug 10 - 2010 WUC Canoe Sprint Update: First Competitions
28 Aug 10 - 2010 WUC Canoe Sprint Update: First Finals: World Level Class Competition
29 Aug 10 - 2010 WUC Canoe Sprint Update: A Very Busy Last Day of Competitions
