The Canoe Slalom course at Lee Valley near London, site of the 2012 Olympic competition, welcomes back the first World Cup of the 2019 season this weekend, with competition from Thursday through Saturday.
The fields are tremendous, with multiple 2012 medalists competing, along with most of the Olympic medal winners from Rio:
Men:
● Sideris Tasiadis (GER) ~ 2012 Olympic C-1 silver
● Michal Martikan (SVK) ~ 2012 Olympic C-1 bronze; 2017 Worlds C-1 bronze
● David Florence (GBR) ~ 2015 C-1 World Champion
● Hannes Aigner (GER) ~ 2012 Olympic K-1 bronze; 2018 World Champion
● Joe Clarke (GBR) ~ 2016 K-1 Olympic gold medalist
● Peter Kauzer (SLO) ~ 2016 Olympic K-1 silver; 2017 Worlds bronze medalist
● Jiri Prskevic (CZE) ~ 2016 Olympic K-1 bronze; 2018 Worlds silver medalist
● Pavel Eigel (RUS) ~ 2018 World Championships K-1 bronze medalist
● Vit Prindis (CZE) ~ 2017 World Championships silver medalist
● Denis Gargaud Chanut (FRA) ~ 2016 Olympic C-1 gold medalist
● Vavrinec Hradilek (CZE) ~ 2012 Olympic K-1 silver medalist
● Matej Benus (CZE) ~ 2016 Olympic C-1 silver medalist
● Franz Anton (GER) ~ 2018 C-1 World Champion
● Ryan Westley (GBR) ~ 2018 C-1 Worlds silver medalist
● Benjamin Savsek (SLO) ~ 2017 C-1 World Champion
● Alexander Slafkovsky (SVK) ~ 2017 C-1 Worlds silver medalist
Women:
● Jessica Fox (AUS) ~ 2018 World C-1 Champion; 2012 Olympic K-1 silver; ‘16 K-1 bronze
● Maialen Chourraut (FRA) ~ 2016 Olympic K-1 gold; 2012 Olympic K-1 bronze
● Luka Jones (NZL) ~ 2016 Olympic K-1 silver medalist
● Mallory Franklin (GBR) ~ 2017 C-1 World Champion; 2018 Worlds C-1 silver
● Ana Satila (BRA) ~ 2017 Worlds C-1 bronze medalist
● Tereza Fiserova (CZE) ~ 2017 Worlds C-1 silver; 2018 Worlds C-1 bronze
Australia’s Fox won all five races in the women’s C-1 World Cup last season and won both the C-1 and K-1 races in the first three World Cups! She’ll be trying to extend her streak into 2019.
Look for results here.
