2nd WORLD UNIVERSITY FLATWATER CANOEING CHAMPIONSHIP
Bari, Italy - September 20th to 22nd, 2002
Flat water canoeing first joined the FISU sports programme at the Universiade in Zagreb, Croatia in 1987. At the time, it was an optional sport in the Universiade. The races were organized in Jarun, on an arm of the Sava river where in olden times the first inhabitants usually travelled in kayaks. The contestants had to cope with terrible weather conditions. The Russians and Romanians dominated the meet. Among the latter, the great champion Aurel Macarencu stood out by winning the 500 and 1000 metres in a C1 single canoe. In 1998, the best university specialists met on the same site, but this time in the first World University Championship in the discipline. The Hungarian team swept up six gold, five silver and one bronze medals with impressive ease and took the first place for results of the entire team, in front of Poland and Romania.
The second edition of this WUC was hosted by the town of Bari late September. The town offered its magnificent regatta basin for the meet. This 1000 m port basin where the 1997 Olympic rowing regattas took place, has 9 lanes each 9 m wide (Albano system) and corresponds to the technical standards set down by the International Canoeing Federation.
A High Class Meet
Many rowers, men and women, answered the call in Italy for a total of 160 contestants (125 men and 35 women) and 39 officials. The contest promised to be top class with the arrival of very powerful teams. Hungary (World Champions in this discipline), for example, brought its best rowers including Timea Paksy. Romanian champion Mitica Pricop (C2 Olympic champion -1000m) was there too with several prizewinners at the recent (civil) World Championship games in Sevilla: Dorota Kuezkowska (POL) , Richard and Michael Riszdorfer (SVK) and Erik Ulcek. Finally, Italy brought in the members of its national team. The two-day programme was very intense, but unfortunately a violent storm broke out the second day that was reserved for the finals, causing the organizers to revise the timetable. The closing ceremony was also postponed. When it comes to the medals, Canada stood out for the regularity of its rowers. With two gold medals, four silver and four bronze, it was the country that put the largest number of contestants on the podium. But Romania took its fill of five gold medals for five victories. Germany, Slovakia, Italy, Hungary and the Czech Republic shared the remaining titles.
PARTICIPATION
1. CAN - 17 2. CRO - 11 3. CZE - 16 4. FRA - 12 5. GER - 10 6. HUN - 23 7. ITA - 20 8. JPN - 12 9. LTU - 2 10. POL - 2 11. ROM - 25 12. RSA - 11 13. SLO - 6 14. SVK - 9 15. USA - 8 16. YUG - 15 TOTAL: 199
FINAL RANKING
MEN K1 500m
1. Jacopo MAJOCCHI - ITA 2. Lubomir NEMEC - SVK 3. Frank SCHNEIDER - GER
MEN K1 1000m
1. Thorsten MULLER - GER 2. Jerhej ZUPANCIC - SLO 3. Jacopo MAJOCCHI - ITA
MEN C1 500m
1. Richard DALTON - CAN 2. Peter HORNIG - GER 3. Daniel BIKSACK - SVK
MEN C1 1000m
1. Peter HORNING - GER 2. Claudiu Petru CIUR - ROM 3. Mark OLDERSHAN - CAN
MEN K2 500m
1. CZE 2. CAN 3. SVK
MEN K2 1000m
1. CZE 2. GER 3. ITA
MEN C2 500m
1. ROM 2. ITA 3. CAN
MEN C2 1000m
1. ROM 2. CAN 3. HUN
MEN K4 500m
1. SVK 2. CZE 3. GER
MEN K4 1000m
1. SVK 2. GER 3. HUN
MEN C4 500m
1. ROM 2. CAN 3. HUN
MEN C4 1000m
1. ROM 2. CAN 3. HUN
WOMEN K1 500m
1. Karen FURNEAUX - CAN 2. Marcela ERBANOVA - SVK 3. Lidia RUSANESCU - ROM
WOMEN K2 500m
1. HUN 2. ROM 3. CAN
WOMEN K4 500m
1. ROM 2. ITA 3. CAN
