MINSK – The 6th World University Canoe Sprint Championship in Belarus came to an end. The host country’s team performed best, having won 20 medals (13 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 6 bronze medals). The second place in the medal tally went to Poland with a total number of 19 medals (6 gold, 7 silver and 6 bronze). The third place was taken by Czech Republic.
During the closing ceremony the organizers named the best student-athletes. World Champion and World University Champion Josef Dostal (CZE) was named ‘best sportsman’ in the category ‘men’s kayak’. He won two gold medals (200 and 500 m).
The most popular Belarusian kayaker Aleh Yurenia became the winner in 1,000m kayak singles. Moreover, he was the leader in the 500m kayak doubles with Pavel Miadzvedzeu.
The Championship was indeed a great success for the Belarusian canoers. Maksim Piatrou became the first in the 1,000m canoe singles. Ruslan Sazanavets, Siarhei Pryvolkin, Yury Mazanavich and Yauheni Tsenhel became the best in sprint canoe fours. Dzianis Makhlai and Hleb Saladukha were the quickest on the 500m distance. The host nation canoers also took a gold medal in the longest distance.
The best in men’s canoe was Martin Fuksa (CZE), who won a gold medal at 500 meters. “Of course, I am tired because of the long season”, said Fuksa. “But I did my best in order to win a gold medal and to finish the season on a positive note. Two times at this championship I was a silver medalist and surely I wanted to win the race.”
Maryna Litvinchuk (BLR) was nominated “best women’s kayak”. She took a gold medal in the 500m kayak singles. Moreover, she was also successful in sprint kayak doubles with Volha Khudzenka and in the 500m kayak fours with Marharyta Tsishkevich, Volha Khudzenka, Nadzeya Liapeshka. The Belarusian athletes emphasized that they didn’t expect that Polish opponents would be so strong.
Polish Tomasz Kaczor and Vincent Slominski took hegemony from the Belarusian sportsmen at the end of the race and won the gold medal on the 500m. Moreover, Michal Lubniewski, Mariusz Kruk, Grzegorz Szpynda, Joshua Drojetzki became the winners in sprint on the long distance. They continued to make their fans happy in sprint kayak doubles. Bartosz Jonkisz and Dawid Putto won the gold medal in the 200m sprint kayak doubles.
Lithuanian sportsman Henrikas Zustautas took a gold medal in the 200m canoe. Finally, the team of Kazakhstan, who also won a gold medal, became a real discovery at this championship.
Find an overview of all results here.
(Source: Natallia Aliokhina, WUC Sprint Canoe)
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