It was a happy reunion for British canoeing and the famed Lee Valley site that was the venue for the 2012 Olympic Slalom races at the first ICF World Cup in 2019. And the hosts made history.
In a feat not done for many years other than by Australia’s Jessica Fox, 2017 C-1 World Champion and 2018 K-1 Worlds silver medalist Mallory Franklin won both events, taking Sunday’s C-1 by less than a second over teammate Kimberley Woods.
Woods had paddled into the lead with an excellent, penalty-free run of 107.45, leaving Franklin as the last to go. “It’s not my ideal, going off last in the final,” Franklin said.
“It’s hard for me to put to bed all the different results, and you see the kind of run that Kim put down, I’ve put quite a bit of work into trying to quiet that and focus on my own results. At the end of the day I paddle because I enjoy it, so that’s what I try and focus on.” She finished penalty-free and her time of 106.82 seconds gave her the win. Fox finished third in both the C-1 and K-1 events, but suffered from penalties in both.
The British fans celebrated another win from 2016 K-1 Olympic champ Joe Clarke, who took the men’s K-1 by less than a second over Czech Jiri Prskavec, the 2018 Worlds silver winner.
Germany’s Sideris Tasiadis, who won silver at Lee Valley in 2012, took the C-1 in the closest race of the meet in 94.63, just 0.07 better than Brit Adam Burgess. Summaries:
ICF Slalom World Cup
Lee Valley (GBR) ~ 14-16 June 2019
(Full results here)
Men/C-1: 1. Sideris Tasiadis (GER), 94.63 (0 penalties); 2. Adam Burgess (GBR), 94.70 (0); 3. Ryan Westley (GBR), 95.07 (0); 4. Luka Bozic (SLO), 96.02 (0); 5. Matej Benus (SVK), 96.32 (0).
Men/K-1: 1. Joseph Clarke (GBR), 90.35 (0); 2. Jiri Prskavec (CZE), 91.21 (0); 3. Hannes Aigner (GER), 92.04 (0); 4. Christopher Bowers (GBR), 92.65 (2); 5. Callum Gilbert (NZL), 94.26 (0).
Women/C-1: 1. Mallory Franklin (GBR), 106.82 (0); 2. Kimberley Woods (GBR), 107.45; 3. Jessica Fox (AUS), 113.62 (4); 4. Lucie Baudu (FRA), 113.97 (0); 5. Andrea Herzog (GER), 117.60 (4).
Women/K-1: 1. Franklin (GBR), 99.42 (0); 2. Ricarda Funk (GER), 101.86 (0); 3. Fox (AUS), 105.39 (2); 4. Woods (GBR), 105.87 (4); 5. Maialen Chourraut (ESP), 106.33 (2).
