Tacen World Cup 3

Tacen must have the steepest gradient on the slalom circuit… Most of that's done within 5 seconds! A handful of unfortunate athletes' races are over before the first gate. We always see upsets, and we always see some incredible performances. The river gives and the river takes. Say a little prayer to the river gods (or, like me, share a sip of coffee with them), break into the flow, and then stay present. In slalom, we never race the same course twice. Rivers are always changing. There is nowhere that this is more true than in Tacen. The ultimate test of adaptability.

Prior to racing, the organizers hosted a parallel slalom race in the center of the town. Jonny Dickson and I took part in this exhibition and walked away with two 2nd places. It was an interesting contrast to how we are used to racing: a starting 'gun', head-to-head racing, and all-out sprinting given there was no help from the water. There were two races per round, swapping sides between each. I have to say I am not so used to paddling in this style these days, despite the River Trent in Stone being where I cut my teeth. I was carrying heavy arms into racing on the day of heats. Fortunately, with one more day, I felt like I had recovered in time for finals day.

Reflections on my own race are generally positive. I found the course particularly challenging, so I was content with two solid runs, a fifth-place finish, and another clean final banked (something I aimed to improve on in 2022). However, the gap to winner Luka Bozic and to the podium (Team Peaks' Beni Savsek with the Bronze) was quite big, so there is some work to do to see where the time was changing hands.

GB's main success came from Joe Clarke, who took the win in the kayak cross. It was his first World Cup win in this discipline, despite already being a 2-time World Champion. Ellis Millar battled tough conditions to make it to her first World Cup final and gave an impressive performance in the final to also take 5th. A special mention also goes to Beth Forrow, who raced 17 weeks pregnant. Does that count as C2?

That wraps up the first three rounds of World Cup racing as the team's focus shifts to the European Games in Krakow. World Cups four and five take place later this year in La Seu d'Urgell and Paris.

Photos ® ICF and Peak PS archive