European
Championship Wrap Up!
First thing I
have to say: I had a blast at the 2014 Kayak Freestyle European
Championships in Cunovo, Bratislava!
The Austrian
team was quite big compared to the last events:we were 7 paddlers!
Corinna and
Eli, Andi in the Junior Class and Marcel, Clemens, Philipp and
myself.
We had quite
good training sessions and felt all very confident about the
competition – for everybody in the team except Marcel and myself it
would be the first international freestyle event!
My heat was
up on Thursday quite early and I was still feeling tired from the
training sessions but had a good feeling when I got on the water!
But
unfortunately I did not paddle as well as I hoped to, although I was
really pleased with my second ride and even had a small hope to make
Top 25 – but this hope was destroyed when I saw the scores: It was
far from what I had hoped for!
Managed to
put it aside quickly and carry on with the things happening!
Pete the
headjudge and the organizers asked me to help with the commentating
again and that´s what I did! Had a really good time there with 2
other kayakers doing the commentary again!
For Saturday
I decided to get a second microphone so we could make the commentary
better for the paddlers watching!
Unfortunately
there were not as many people watching as we hoped for but the
paddlers put on quite a big show!
We witnessed
the highest ever officially scored 45 seconds ride by Peter Csonka:
1823 points!
That was
amazing!
And the
finals were intense too! I could sit back and watch them with Gabby and Paula because Bartosz – who dropped out in Semifinals - did
the commentary!
It was
amazing to see those guys paddle at this level!
Peter Csonka
came first followed by Quim Fontané in second and James Pringle
Bebbington in third!
Stoked
especially for Quim to make the 2nd place – he handed
the Nr. 1 BIB to Peter Csonka after the Finals – showing his
sportsmanship!
Agin a big
thank you to all the organisers, volunteers and all the people who
made this a very special event!
And of course
a big thank you to my supporters!
Especially Helli Graf - you are awesome!
Here are some
pictures from the trainings and the competition:
GB Freestyle Team training session:
Pringle - finally back at his best paddling!
Rob Crowe
Team GB + coaches watching Pringle
Gav Barker going huge in his GuiGuiProd Helixir
Gav again
Hugo Scott
Gabby Bates waiting to drop into the feature
Islay Crosbie looking for a Space Godzilla
Hugo doing a McNasty
Jonny Williams in a McNasty
Islay going huge
Puko on tour
Gabby Bates during a huge Loop
And another one
Gabby again - she seemed to be really enjoying herself!
Emma Witherford
Teammate Marcel Bloder during training
Marcel again
Judges during the competition
Abel Thevenet from France
Quim Fontané with his unique style!
Quim again
And one more...
And here´s the new European Champion in the Squirt Category:
Alex Edwards!!!
And of course the parties were awesome too! ;)