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2021 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships – Men's extreme slalom

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Men's extreme slalom
at the 2021 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships
VenueČunovo Water Sports Centre
LocationBratislava, Slovakia
Dates24–26 September 2021
Competitors82 from 34 nations
Medalists
gold medal    Great Britain
silver medal    New Zealand
bronze medal    Austria
2022 →

The men's extreme slalom at the 2021 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships took place on 24 and 26 September 2021 at the Čunovo Water Sports Centre in Bratislava.[1] It was the 4th edition of the event, after it made its debut in 2017 in Pau. 82 athletes from 34 nations competed.[2]

The event was won by Joe Clarke of Great Britain, 2016 Olympic Champion in K1, securing his fourth medal at World Championship level and first individual gold. Finn Butcher of New Zealand won silver, his first medal at this level, while Austrian World No. 1 Mario Leitner won bronze.[3]

Background

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Stefan Hengst of Germany entered the event as the reigning world champion, a title he won in 2019 in Prague.[4] Austria's Mario Leitner entered as the World No. 1, having finished third in the 2021 World Cup standings.[5] The winner of the standings was Czech Vít Přindiš, who also entered as a favourite.[6]

Participation in the event was the largest in history, leading into the events Olympic debut in 2024.[7]

Competition format

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The men's extreme slalom event in canoe slalom is split into two phases - time trials and knockout-style heats. On the Friday, all athletes complete a timed run of the course alone and are seeded based on their performance, with those awarded faults ranked last. 32 athletes progress to the heats, with the advancing paddlers selected first by National Federation, and then time.[8][9] That is, if there are 32 or more competing federations, only the fastest athlete from each of the 32 fastest federations will advance. If there are less than 32 federations competing, the second fastest athletes from each federation will advance and so on until 32 positions are filled. A federation can enter a maximum of four boats in the time trials.[8]

On Sunday, the advancing athletes are split into 8 heats of 4, arranged in an order specified by the rulebook (page 74).[8] The heats and subsequent rounds involve head-to-head racing of 4 boats on the course, where paddlers must navigate 2 upstream gates, a series of downstream gates and perform a complete eskimo roll. The athletes select their positions in the start ramp, with preference given in the order which they were seeded by the time trials. The highest two ranked athletes in each heat progress to the quarter-finals, then to the semifinal and final. Whichever athlete is ranked first in the final is awarded gold. Athletes can be penalised in three ways in each round, by receiving a fault (FLT), being a ranked last finisher (RLF), or by not finishing (DNF).[9] Faults are incurred for false starts, missing gates or failing to correctly perform a 360-degree roll. Athletes are ranked last (RLF) if they breach the safety requirements of the competition, such as by holding back another athlete with their hands or paddle, deliberately paddling over another athlete's boat, or by making dangerous contact with another athlete's head or body - all other non-dangerous contact is allowed. In each round athletes are ranked first by the order in which they cross the finish line, with those incurring penalties ranked in the following order: FLT, RLF, DNF, DNS.[9]

The final classification of athletes is determined in the following manner: Athletes eliminated at any phase of the competition will be given their rank based on the comparison of the time trial times of athletes eliminated at the same phase. All 3rd ranked athletes will be ranked above all 4th ranked athletes. The final rank of athletes who did not progress to the heats is determined by their time trial results.[8]

Schedule

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All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)

Date Time Round
Friday, 24 September 2021
14:47 Time Trials
Sunday, 26 September 2021
15:54 Heats
16:51 Quarterfinal
17:18 Semifinals
17:35 Final

Results

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Time Trials

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World Cup overall winner Vít Přindiš of the Czech Republic was fastest in the time trials with a time of 54.99 ahead of Italian Giovanni De Gennaro. With 32 National Federations making the start, all were permitted 1 starter only in the heats. The fastest non-qualifiers were Benjamin Renia of France (7th) and Joe Clarke of Great Britain (10th). However, the qualifying athletes from Australia and South Africa scratched from the heats, allowing both to progress - Vavřinec Hradilek of the Czech Republic in 11th was then the fastest non-qualifier. Hradilek and Clarke set identical times of 55.92, with Clarke favoured due to his higher world ranking. Hengst and De Dionigi also failed to progress, guaranteeing a first-time World Champion in this event. The top ten in the time trials were as follows:

Rank Bib Canoeist Nation Time[10]
1 108 Vít Přindiš  Czech Republic 54.99
2 116 Giovanni De Gennaro  Italy 55.03
3 102 Boris Neveu  France 55.16
4 101 Mario Leitner  Austria 55.27
5 125 Bradley Forbes-Cryans  Great Britain 55.55
6 103 Joan Crespo  Spain 55.69
7 127 Benjamin Renia  France 55.74
8 142 Dimitri Marx   Switzerland 55.74
9 130 Pedro Gonçalves  Brazil 55.80
10 119 Joe Clarke  Great Britain 55.92

Knockout rounds

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[11]
Top Half

Heats Quarterfinals Semifinal
         
1
16
Czech Republic Vít Přindiš
Slovenia Vid Kuder Marusic
1
2
17
32
United States Kaelin Friedenson
Greece Grigorios Komninos
3
DNF
8
9
Switzerland Dimitri Marx
Brazil Pedro Gonçalves
1
2
16
1
Slovenia Vid Kuder Marusic
Czech Republic Vít Přindiš
3
4
8
9
Switzerland Dimitri Marx
Brazil Pedro Gonçalves
1
2
25
24
Morocco Nour Ait Kaddour
Republic of Ireland Alistair McCreery
3
FLT
4
12
Austria Mario Leitner
New Zealand Finn Butcher
1
2
9
8
Brazil Pedro Gonçalves
Switzerland Dimitri Marx
3
RLF
5
12
United Kingdom B. Forbes-Cryans
New Zealand Finn Butcher
1
2
28
21
Kenya Samuel Muturi
Netherlands Joris Otten
3
4
4
12
Austria Mario Leitner
New Zealand Finn Butcher
1
2
13
5
Slovakia Jakub Grigar
United Kingdom B. Forbes-Cryans
3
FLT
13
4
Slovakia Jakub Grigar
Austria Mario Leitner
1
2
20
29
Chile A. Echeverria Olguin
Romania Patrick Kozma
3
4

Bottom Half

Heats Quarterfinals Semifinal
         
14
19
Poland Michał Pasiut
Canada Trevor Boyd
1
2
3
30
France Boris Neveu
Latvia Martins Plaudis
3
FLT
14
19
Poland Michał Pasiut
Canada Trevor Boyd
1
2
11
6
Nikita Gubenko
Spain Joan Crespo
3
FLT
6
11
Spain Joan Crespo
Nikita Gubenko
1
2
22
27
Kazakhstan Martin Stanovsky
Senegal Jean-Pierre Bourhis
3
FLT
10
14
United Kingdom Joe Clarke
Poland Michał Pasiut
1
2
19
7
Canada Trevor Boyd
France Benjamin Renia
3
FLT
10
7
United Kingdom Joe Clarke
France Benjamin Renia
1
2
23
26
Japan Kazuya Adachi
Uzbekistan B. Mirzakhamdamov
FLT
FLT
10
7
United Kingdom Joe Clarke
France Benjamin Renia
1
2
15
1
Germany Hannes Aigner
Italy G. De Gennaro
3
4
15
2
Germany Hannes Aigner
Italy G. De Gennaro
1
2
18
31
Sweden Fredrik Wahlen
Singapore Jun Yi Ong
3
4

Final

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As the highest-seeded athlete, Mario Leitner chose the rightmost starting position. Clarke started in the leftmost position, Pasiut centre-left and Butcher centre-right. Clarke was fastest to the first set of upstreams and opted for the left one, while all other three went to the right. Butcher started slowest but successfully undercut Pasiut and Leitner in the first upstream. Clarke and Butcher opted for separate upstreams in the second set, with no change of lead. Butcher gained steadily in the final gates but could not overtake Clarke.

Joe Clarke won gold to 'resurrect' a disappointing weekend in his favoured K1 event, which saw him eliminated in the heats.[3] Finn Butcher's silver was his first at Championship level, after he also won silver in the opening World Cup of 2021. Leitner's bronze was also his first world championship medal, while Pasiut achieved a career-best 4th. All competitors completed penalty-free runs.[12]

10 United Kingdom Joe Clarke 1st place, gold medalist(s)
12 New Zealand Finn Butcher 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
4 Austria Mario Leitner 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
14 Poland Michał Pasiut 4

References

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  1. ^ "France ends Slovakia canoe dominance". ICF Media. September 22, 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  2. ^ "Men's Extreme Slalom Start List" (PDF). Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Olympic Champions bounce back to best". ICF Media. September 26, 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  4. ^ "Extreme K1M official result list – World Championships 2019" (PDF). Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  5. ^ "ICF Canoe Slalom World Rankings". Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  6. ^ "2021 World Cup Final Ranking" (PDF). CanoeSlalom.net. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  7. ^ "Will slalom history be made in Bratislava?". ICF Media. September 21, 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  8. ^ a b c d "ICF Canoe Slalom Competition Rules 2019" (PDF). Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  9. ^ a b c "2021 Amendment of ICF Canoe Slalom Competition Rules Chapter 16" (PDF). Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  10. ^ "Men's Extreme Slalom - Time Trials Results List" (PDF). Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  11. ^ "Men's Extreme Slalom - Full Bracket" (PDF). Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  12. ^ "Men's Extreme Slalom - Final Analysis" (PDF). Retrieved 28 September 2021.