Canoe World Championships by Funk and Lilik – Anton III | free press

BRATISLAVA (DPA) – Tears rolled down by Ricarda Funk. And Elena Lilik repeatedly touched her head in disbelief, and sank to her knees, finally letting out a cry of joy.

The emotions of the two new world slalom champions said after the gold in kayak and canoe races in Bratislava, Slovakia, more than they could have seen before. Funk crowned a unique season in history with a gold medal at the Olympics and the World Cup. Lilik, better known by her maiden name Abel, sensationally replaced her teammate Andrea Herzog as Sunday’s champion. The third Olympian from Leipzig surprisingly failed in the semi-finals.

“IM so happy. I worked hard for it. Funk, who started with Bad Kreuznach and lives and trains in Augsburg, said that I can now finish this season like this is simply fantastic. Unlike her long-term rival, Australian exceptional Jessica Fox, Funk showed no nerves, confidently dried up her best time in the final and was the fastest again there.

Now ready for vacation

It’s crazy, I was so flowy in my race and then saw the time at the finish and was just happy,” Funk said. After two silver and two bronze medals at the World Championships, the title has now been won. “It’s been a really long year. The goal was the Olympics and now the World Championships, but now I’m definitely ready for a vacation. Funk said, “I’m leaving Bratislava. I achieved a perhaps one-time victory made possible by postponing the Summer Games by one year. Because in an Olympic year there is no World Cup.

Elena Lilik could not get out of the party. The day before her thrilling gold flip, she surprisingly won the silver behind her roommate Funk. Only Fox achieved such results in both areas before her, but this time she weakened. The 23-year-old from Augsburg has benefited from this with remarkable achievements. “Can not be described. I think my head has decided. In my head I kept telling myself that the fight would go on until the end, no matter how good or bad the clip was, said Lilik.

And she went better in the Olympic extreme slalom, which will be held in Paris for the first time in 2024. Behind Jessica Fox, she won her third world championship medal with a silver in Bratislava. It’s in her first extreme slalom competition, where four boats row against each other after setting off from a cliff. Funk and Olympic bronze medalist in kayak, Hannes Aigner (Augsburg), was eliminated in the quarter-finals.

There was a conciliatory conclusion to the Men’s World Cup through Franz Anton. Leipziger went into the Canadian singles in the absence of Olympic third party Sidris Tasiades, having already won the title in 2018. “We prepared for this World Cup in a very focused way. “Bronze is the reward it deserves and it shows that Franz should never be written off,” said exercise bike Anton Felix Michel. Kayak men Noah Haig (fifth), Stefan Hengst (sixth) and Olympian third party Hannes Aigner (ninth) were left without the precious metal.