This year the canoe freestyle world cups are taking place in Plattling, Germany, ahead of next years World Championships. It is an exciting chance for paddlers to experience competition on the feature they hope to be competing at next year.
The first world cup kicked off on Sunday 26th May, with hundreds of paddlers from across the globe hunting down personal bests and some shiny medals. Great Britain were out in some force and enjoyed success. Here are the highlights of each category.
OC1
The first medals of the event were handed out to the OC1 category, a category that saw four Brits competing. With 10 paddlers competing, everyone was taken straight through to the semi finals, offering a second chance to paddle. The action heated up in the semi finals as Britain’s Connor Proud showed that the bigger boats can still go big as he landed an air loop to secure his finals spot.
In the finals were two world champions, international medallist, Connor and Eoghan of Ireland. It was an exciting final as the scores grew with every run. Connor managed to land another loop, however Landon Miller of the USA really showed what was possible as he blew away the competition to take the gold medal. Philip Josef took silver, and Eoghan Kelly bronze.
Squirt
There was an impressive number of entries to the squirt boat competition, making it a tough competition for all. In the women’s Sophie Macken made her international debut at just 14 years old. She managed to place 6th, just missing out on the final. Her team mates Tamsyn McConchie and Ottilie Robinson Shaw managed to secure their places with impressive performances, progressing through in first and second place.
In the final it was all about Ottilie as she put on a masterclass of squirt boating, accumulating a score that would have topped the men’s class too. The gold went to Ottilie and Tamsyn managed to claim the silver medal, topping off her birthday. Norway's Valerie Bertrand secured the bronze.
In the men's class, Britain's Sam Wilson was unlucky to miss out on a spot in the finals, but David Rogers and Alex Edwards managed to paddle their way into the final. Joining them were three home paddlers from Germany, making it a noisy final.
Both of the Brits pulled off three good runs, with every one being over 1000 points. Only 60 points separated David and Alex after the first run. Alex stepped up his game for run two however, putting down a run of 1440 points, putting some distance between him and David. Finn Krossig of Germany came out of nowhere on his second run, pushing himself just 14 points ahead of David, and into second place. The gold went to Alex Edwards, Silver Finn, and bronze to David.
K1 Junior Women
There were only two British women represented in the junior women, they were Sophie Macken on her international debut and Isabella Wormall. Both successfully made it through to the semi finals and gave it their all. Sophie's smile didn’t stop throughout her rides, showing how much she loved every second. She placed 9th, missing out on the finals.
Isabella Wormall went through to the final in 3rd position, with her sights set on the top spot. Her first ride was her strongest, which saw her put in a strong bid to be on the podium. Her run was strong enough to hold off two paddlers, putting her in the bronze medal position. Siren Saetre picked up Norway's second medal with a silver, and Ireland’s Leah Hough took home a well deserved gold.
K1 Junior Men
A mixture of GB team familiars and newcomers made up the junior men's representation. Timmy Hill, 2023 world bronze medallist, James Ward, and Math Cradock all progressed through to the semi finals. The junior men all rose to the semi final challenge, hunting down the top 5 spots that would see them through to the finals. Math came out with all guns blazing, throwing as many tricks as he could in his time slot. Unfortunately, his international debut came to an end but with a 9th place.
James and Timmy had both made it to the finals where the fight was on for medals. Wanting to add to his bronze from last years world championships, Timmy went hard from the start, looking to unleash every trick he had. Despite a very valiant effort, Timmy finished in 5th place. James Ward made the most of the bonuses on offer, particularly the air bonus points. A solid first ride put him in medal contention, but his third run sealed the deal, and saw him take home the silver medal. Tim Rees of Germany, two times world champion, took the gold. Jonas Hermann managed to secure the bronze.
C1 Men
With 13 paddlers in this class, it was a quick cut down to 10 in the heats. Unfortunately two of these paddlers were Harvey Harwood and Adam Ramadan from Britain, leaving Matt Stephenson to fly the flag.
Matt flew the flag all the way into the finals, looking to compete with some of the world’s best. By the time the finals came around the river level had risen, making it slightly harder to pull off the tricks done in the semi finals. Matt did a fantastic job, throwing some of the biggest loops and McNasty’s of the round. However, the experience of two former world champions, Landon Miller and Tom Dolle, and home-spot knowledge of Sebastian Nelle shone through as they filled the podium. Gold to Landon, silver to Tom, and bronze to Sebastian.
C1 women
This is a field that Britain excels at in freestyle (and slalom), with a two time world champion, Ottilie Robinson Shaw, and world medalists, Tamsyn McConchie and Becky Green, making their team. Joining them was also Lucy Sutton, hoping to join them in the success they all share.
With more paddlers in the women’s class than men’s, it was a tough competition. Unfortunate casualties of the heats were both Lucy and Tamsyn. In the semi finals all the women stepped it up again, pulling off rides that were impressive. Becky Green was caught a couple of times by the changing water, leading to her just missing out on the finals, finishing 7th. #
It came as no surprise to anyone that the two time world champion, Ottilie, sat on top of the scoreboard the whole time, putting down huge scores every run. This continued into the final where she almost doubled the score of Germany's Anica who was in second place. Japan's Hitomi Takaku took the bronze medal.
K1 Men
A huge entry for k1 men meant there were three rounds to get through before reaching the finals. Matt Stephenson, Harry Price and Ben Higson all made it through the heats and into the quarterfinals. Matt missed out on the semi finals, finishing 12th overall. Harry and Ben both put down some impressive runs in an incredibly tight semi final to seal their place in the finals.
The finals were a thrilling one, with positions changing with every run. Harry’s smooth style, linking trick after trick saw him score a huge 1213 points, shooting him up the leader board on his first run. There was only Tom Dolle of France that bettered him with 1303. Ben Higson set off strong too, locking in third place by the end of his second ride. However, it was Harry who upped his game, and showed some of his potential. Maximising his time on the feature and bonus points on offer, he pulled off a run that scored 1396, taking the top spot from the French paddler. This lead held strong as paddler after paddler went. Gold for Harry Price! Silver went to Tom Dolle of France, and Polands Tomasz Czaplicki managed to steal the bronze on his final run.
K1 Women
Another huge turnout led there to be three rounds to get through before reaching finals. In the heats, 15 paddlers were cut, which unfortunately included three Britain’s. Then in an incredibly tough quarter final, where between 14th and 6th was less than 500 points, two more Brits were cut. Both Emma Witherford and Becky Green showed some great paddling to finish 12th and 15th respectively.
That meant in the final was Ottilie, former world champion and 2023 world silver medallist, eager for her 3rd gold medal of the competition. Ottilie came out with a big run, taking the lead from the very start, although everyone watching knew she still had more to give. The rising water levels made it a trickier feature than previous rounds, and that meant that Ottilie never managed to get into the flow she had found in the heats and semi finals, but still scored 883! On second runs, Zofia Tula of Poland showed that the time she had spent training in the feature was well spent, putting down a huge ride with lots of air. This propelled her to the top spot with 1006 points. That was a lead nobody could catch. Zofia took the gold, Ottilie of Britain the silver, and Germany’s Merle Hauser took the bronze.
A successful world cup 1 for Great Britain, securing 9 medals in total!
Gold – Harry Price (K1 Men)
Ottilie Robinson Shaw x2 (Women’s Squirt & C1 Women)
Alex Edwards (Men’s Squirt)
Silver – Ottilie Robinson Shaw (K1 Women)
Tamsyn McConchie (Women’s Squirt)
James Ward (K1 Junior Men)
Bronze – David Rogers (Men’s Squirt)
Isabella Wormall (K1 Junior Women)