Rain, rain and more rain was the order of the day on a damp Friday, quarter finals day for the ladies and men in Thun. After a late start and after lunch, the ladies heats got under way. However, over on the out channel in Thun all morning had the Squirt boaters been battling it out for final honours.
These subsurface squirt boats had 60 seconds to do both a flat water sequence and mystery move on an eddy line. Through Thursday afternoon, the prelims and semi final had cut the field to the top 5 for both ladies and men. The traditional strong nations of Japan, USA and the UK were all in the running. In the ladies the ’07 champion Valerie Bertrand, a Canadian who now lives in Norway headed the pack, but UK power ball Claire O’Hara managed to blow away the competition to take the gold with Scot’s lass Emma Runciman just steeling second from Valerie. For the guys its was a tight affair with the honours split between Uk paddler James Reeves, Ishihara Toru of Japan and Jeremy Laucks from the USA respectively. Toru had been using the far river right eddy, where the seam line along the eddy fence provided often spectacular mystery move combo’s, yet it was James’s wonderful smooth style whilst cartwheeling away in the eddy, that brought home the bacon.
Over on the Inner Channel, after lunch the ladies got under way. Easier heats were full of safe surfin’ with the occasional big move, and yet these were all to expensive, resulting in short runs. It was a tense affair, until the third heat when Martina Wegman from Holland hit two ace rides, and place pressure on the last heat of top girls from the Prelims. In the final heat Mariann Sæther of Norway started with big bang, with her whole ride, in fact all her rides were much the same, explosive, aerial and full of confidence, clearly Mariann’s performance is peaking at the right time. Also Tanya Faux gave explosive rides, often waiting to set up for that perfect move, but when the moves came, they were very convincing indeed. The pressure of the occasion, killed off Jesse Stone, whose’ early short rides played on her performance, a great shame as she’d been hitting numerous donkey flips in training and the prelims. The duel between Emily and Ruth stepped up in intensity, where both managed to extend their donkey flip efforts into air screws. The site of the style of move in a competition is a real step forward for the girls and proof that the sport is still charging onwards. The cut for the top 5 spots in the Semi’s went to Emily, Ruth, Mariann, Tanya and Martina. Lower down in 6th place, Paula Suurseppä from Finland gave determined rides with several felixes.
In the mens Quarter Final, the energy went into overdrive from the first heat, the boys stepped up to the occasion and gave us great rides. The likes of Tyler Curtis booked his place in the Semi’s with several smooth runs and calculated tricks. The key was two good rides, and this is where the cast of men fell short to deliver. Other notables whom gave great single rides were Billy Harris, Simon Strohmeier, Byran Kirk and Anthony Yap. Paddlers able to deliver were several established performers with Eric Jackson, Steve Wright and Casper Van Kalmthout, all providing the goods over two runs. With the army of French Supporters with drums, tricolour flags, moustache’s and a live chicken, Jules Gallais fired it up to pull himself into the Semi’s. Yet the real tight end of the last heat brought the real attention grabbing show. Miku from Finland, who was first up in the final heat, turned up the pressure with an amazing ride, huge air everything, clean blunt, air screw and pistol flip, thus unknown to the international scene was paddling wonderfully right in the scorching heat of the competition. Peter Csonka blew his first ride, so added considerable pressure to his second run, yet the professional performer made his mark with a killer ride, and proved that come the Semi’s he has what it takes to deliver. Nick Troutman, yet again gave us all a lesson in modern aerial freestlye, loving the crowd, firing them up before heading into the wave, its show time and this is the entertainment. At this point it is increasingly difficult to wonder how Nick can be beaten. Still tomorrow evening its Semi Finals, where one ride counts out of two runs, and here is the most difficult round to ensure your shot at the crown on Sunday. In Finals you get three runs and one counts, a little easier, but with some much at stake who can say, right now things are looking very interesting for everyone watching.
Heavy rain certainly cleared the air for Thursday morning, and events got going at 10 sharp. The action for the ladies was a great show, often a lot of safe surfing and then bang, a cool aerial move, its was eye catching stuff.
In the crowd of ladies, were two new nations competing at the Worlds, Prossy Merembe from Uganda and Sunuwar Rai Susmita from Nepal. Both were very nervous and both have a great time in front of the people of Thun. These paddlers have received support from the ICF’s Canoe World programme, where funding for paddlesports development can be used to bring athletes to major events. Sunuwar Rai Susmita yesterday had her first visit to a supermarket and was so excited to see all the vast range of goods. Afterwards she was so drained, she slept all afternoon, which clearly did her good, as she was all smiles on and off the water.
The action at the sharp end of the ladies competition was attention grabbing, a blend full of fine moves and disappointment. Nerves seamed to pull several paddlers whom in practise were very much on fire, yet by competition day had become all but a damp smoulder. The likes of ex-Champ Jutta Kaiser from Germany and ex-European Champ Lowri Davies both fell well short of their potential. There were some great surprises too, Kataya Kulkova from Russia found form after a tense training week and new girl Carly McDonald banged out some great air blunts and a donkey flip to cruise into the top 10.
The entertainment of the ladies prelims belonged to the duelling pair of Ruth Gordon and Emily Jackson, who got 713 and 601 points respectively. Today’s show was not all theirs to revel in, as neither found their form of the training week, plus with the added pressure from Tanya Faux on 500 and Mariann Sæther on 528 clearly having an impact on performance. Tanya and Mariann looked strong, both with 3 or 4 air moves, yet the consistent rides were with Ruth and Emily, both repeatedly nailed left and right air back stabs, to please the waiting crowd no end. This race will probably get quite tight as we approach the semi’s on Saturday, until then its Quarterfinal tomorrow for the men and ladies, plus the King of the Wave and Raft Ender event to look forward too.
Overnight rain gave rise to a damp morning and an overcast sky. Day 3 in Thun looked like it would be a very grey affair. With the event still in the prelim stages, mid week was for the Canoe classes and Juniors. Due to very late night practise I was sleeping in this morning and missed the C1 and OC1, yet my training partner on the water last night, Jeremy Laucks of the USA, hit a huge air loop in his open boat to please the crowd in the morning. Next up were the C1 paddlers, and my hot tip from the training days Guillaume LaRue of Canada made several clean air moves, including his very flash looking air screw to bring home the bacon, and a score of 1000, which would of put him in the top 10 of the kayakers. Brit Dave Bainbridge was not far be hide on 930, expect the Semi Finals on Saturday to be tight.
After lunch, the Junior Ladies went, and we saw some nervous paddling. Imagine, you’re 16 years old, you’ve battled with your team mates for the 6 team practise sessions, at night the eddy is completely full, and now you are in the bull pit with hundreds of people watching. Your friends and family are making all the noise they can, national flags are flying and you need to make a show of your paddling. Needless to say, thanks for the four rides, the first one can be a throw away. And once one gets into the rhythm of paddling, the moves start to flow, smiles are found and any tension departs. True to form Nouria from France sat on the wave blunting here and there, sometimes with air, and pretty much surfed out her rides in control and with style. Needless to say it was no surprise she got nearly 4 times the score of the 2nd place. With the rest of the girls making semifinals hitting around 100 points, its going to be tight for the 5 places of Sunday’s Final.
The junior mens was another matter all together. Few nerves were shown, only some frantic paddling to ensure the wave was caught, before the throwdown. The French supports dressed up to appear as quintessentially French as possible; beret, pencil line moustache and tricolour colours adorned. This made for a great party atmosphere with lots of noise with every French boaters paddle stroke. The French support clearly worked as both Sebastien and Thomas made the cut. A pre-event favourite Dane Jackson, wobbled at first but pulled through on his second ride to ensure that he beats his Father’s score in the Mens class from yesterday. Devyn Scoot from Canada hit the big moves to put up a 1200 point score that would of placed him 8th in the Mens. In the final heat Jason Craig, gave a finale performance with huge rides, and amped the crowd who cheered him on, always surfin’ off to a big cheer and wearing a huge smile. This boy flies, and boy does he enjoy himself, a great end of day show. Jason from the USA scored 1700 points, this would make 2nd place in the mens. The race for the title is going to be a great one to watch.
All today’s classes top ten go straight to semi’s, where they get 2 rides and only one counts, this is the toughest round of the event and where the tactical advantage of going towards the end of the pack can ensure a smoother passage to the final 5 places, yet like all things in white water, everything can change in a moments notice.
The long day, the mens K1 preliminaries that is. Over a hundred wave shredders, sized the Thun wave from over 32 nations, all in the hope to getting the phat tricks and big air to make it to the quarterfinals day on Friday. Last night the lake level had dropped so much that the wave was turned off over night, so after some readjusting first thing, we were off……
Early on Billy Harris set the marker with 1500 points. It was a stout start for Freestyles’ persistent medal hunter. Steven Wright made some excellent big air moves to score 1400 points and Simon Strohmeier nailed his clean pan-ams hitting 1100 points. Soon after, Peter Csonka fired up some 800+ points a ride to score 1600+, in the best two rides from a four run format used in the first round of the competition. By lunch time, these three were the only paddlers to break the 1000 point barrier. EJ hunting for his fourth was down on 900, after short rides with numerous helix attempts failed to bring the big score to his door.
After a short respite, Finland’s Miku managed to pull out the big crowd pleaser, a huge air loop at the end of a great aerial ride. Miku, a relative unknown on the international scene, trains in the far North of Finland all Summer long, just short of the Arctic Circle. The likes of Anthony Yap with his house made creation, threw several trademark clean pan-ams, but the big scoring moves were not forthcoming. By mid afternoon, numerous riders had placed their claims for the crown, yet it was not until late in the day, Nick Troutman hit proverbial home run, and so significantly was it struck, that it might as well be into outer space. Each run was a lesson in modern aerial freestyle, and delivered some 2500+ points and a place into Quarter Finals.
Considerable rain is due overnight, and the lake levels are predicted to recover. So a great weekend is on hand, just 2 more days of prelims, Canoe types and da youth go in the morning. Until Wednesday’s postcard, follow the talk of the day on simon_in_thun
“Let the games begin”said Richard Fox, 5 times World Slalom Champ and ICF Vice President earlier today as he opened the 2009 World Freestyle Championships in Thun, Switzerland.
Official team trainings are now done, the opening ceremony is over, and competitors are getting for their moment of glory on the wave in Thun tomorrow. Sun is still shining and the wave is in a perfect condition for the competition – bring on the men’s preliminaries starting on Tuesday morning!
As a week of training sessions come to an end, the battle lines have been drawn and the favourites start to emerge. after a strong finish in the EuroCup events this year and high flying air moves all week, Peter Csonka of Slovakia is likely to set the standard for the finals. Perennial Champ from the US, Eric “EJ” Jackson is a master competitor, so I do not expect to see him fall short. The young ripper from Germany, Simon Strohmeier and Canadian Freestyle Journeyman Billy Harris have hit the big moves all week, yet the one to watch for the crown is clearly Nick Troutman again from Canada. Every training ride has been a blow away run, big, solid and consistent.
In the ladies, their is likely to be a face off between Emily Jackson (Daughter of EJ and wife to Troutman) and Ruth Gordan, again from Canada, these two lead the pack, and have been neck and neck all week for the most consistent big rides. Snapping at their heals are Ozzy Tanya Faux, Mariann Sæther from Norway and Lowri Davies from the UK. All have been nailing great air moves.
For the juniors its a tight split between two US chargers, Dane Jackson (brother of Emily and son of EJ) and Jason Craig. I expect to see these boys get scores that would qualify them in the mens, good air, for fast and clean moves. For the junior girls, French wave shredder in the form of Nouria Newman has been popping great blunts, to please the crowds. A special mention for C1 aerial specialist Guillaume LaRue whose clean air screws are a wonderment to enjoy, very flash indeed.
The opening ceremony finished off the team trainings in the early evening, and presented a great mixture of speeches, street dance and kayak-rap performed by Rush Sturges. Over 30 nations are present in the 2009 Freestyle Kayak World Championships and the ceremony brought together a colorful mix of athletes, many of them sporting their national colors.
Here’s a ride from Monday just to show the talents of Mr Nick Troutman: Final Day of Practise with Nick Troutman rippin\'
Check in on Tuesday for the news & scores on men’s preliminary rides! on Twitter or at Playak’s Twitterwall
Text: Satu VW & Simon
Pics: Satu VW & Simon
