Extreme ICF Ranking Race and a Special Prague for me | Pepe
The latest addition to the Olympic programme for Whitewater kayaking will make its debut at the Paris Games in 2024, Extreme Slalom. Slalom athletes are now adopting their skills to the new challenge this brings, battling it out on the World Cup race circuit as well as the up coming World Championships. Team paddler, Pepe Goncalves is a fan of the discipline, here's his round up on the past two events and developments he's been involved with for the intimidating launch ramp...
It was a very interesting week for what is to come in the Olympic Extreme Slalom, with the test of the new ramp system that the ICF wants to implement at the start of the heats, an individual electronically activated starting ramp lowering and launching your kayak into the water simultaneously with its competitors.I had the pleasure of tasting it first hand and here are my thoughts:
It's not as bad as it looks from the outside, from the inside it reacts well to the electronic start stimulus, I understand that the ICF increasingly wants to reduce the slopes of a false start and give the same conditions to the athletes, but we have to look at how cool this is for those who watch competitions, I really believe that one of the coolest things about extreme competition is the reaction that the athlete has at the start of the race, this can be one more thing to train and improve, given the example of the 100 meters competitions in athletics, swimming and others that work with the athlete's start reaction.
Another thing is the cost of this system and maintenance, will it be possible to have this in all world cups and ranking race? What is the point of having this only in some competitions and also taking the same conditions even further so that countries outside Europe have competitions with the same conditions as Europeans.
POV of an Extreme Slalom launch ramp
Gold medal at the ICF Ranking Race. Augsburg
Special Prague for me
In the slalom I managed to paddle well in the qualifiers and advance in 14th place to the semi finals, but it was in the semifinals that something special happened and I managed to put what I know in the water, a very good descent, lucid and fast and I advanced to the final that I believe make it the most difficult final to be in the entire world circuit. In the final I had a bit of bad luck when the water in the channel rose between the descents and I couldn't manage it in the best way, but I believe a lot in the process and in how much I'm evolving every year, I'm very happy with this final and with the how special a final is in this place with all the fans cheering in the stands.
Racing through the rounds in Prague
At the extreme slalom event I felt very strong, I was coming from a victory in the ICF ranking race in Augsburg but I knew that there were all the strongest canoeists in the world in this modality and the fight would be tough.I qualified in the time trial with the 4th fastest time, which makes me comfortable to choose my starting position in almost all heats. I reached the final and knew it would be a very tough dispute alongside Joe Clark (BBR), Stefan Hengst (Germany) and Tim Anderson (Australia).
My race was very good but I had some fights at the up gates with the Australian that made me lose some of the precious starting time while at the up gate on the other side Joe and Stefan left with a lot of speed, in the rolling part me and Joe we were still fighting for 2nd place but as he had the right line which was faster I managed to get ahead of me and finished 3rd.
Sharing the podium with Joe and Stefan.
Very happy with my weekend and proud to be at the top of the world, the season is just starting and I hope the good results continue to come.
Pepe!
