The last event of this World Cup series at the Nantahala Outdoor Centre, the biggest event of the 3, is the decider of the whole series. It’s also the site of the next World Championships.
So the results from here will give us an indicator of whose looking good for next years Worlds, what we need to work on and who are the ones to beat currently.
The feature is a challenging powerful hole. All moves go in there, but it’s not an easy feature and you need to be fast and powerful to get good rides. The bonus of this event over the previous 2 was also that we had a full week of practice to get used to the feature.
First up of the competition was Mens Prelims. Cutting the field to the top 20. I’d been resting just having a couple practice rides during the week to give my collarbone a chance to heal up a bit after the Pigeon event.
I was really happy with how I was doing in the feature and how the new Dagger Jitsu is performing for me so even without much practice felt like I could compete well here.
I had really good rides and got 3rd place in the prelims, Peter was 1st and Dane 2nd. In the quarters the last 2 weeks of competition caught up with me and I couldn’t push properly on my right sued and finished up 12th. Happy it total but in need of a few weeks off the water to heal myself properly.
I really enjoyed the feature and am looking forward to being at full strength, trained up and un-injured ready to do battle here next year. I think I stand a good chance 
In the finals it looked set to be an epic fight between Peter and Dane who’ve been stepping it up against each other every run throughout the series. Then we had Quim Fontane, Nick Troutman and Jason Craig who could easily step up and match them both to take the win here.
It was actually one of the best finals i’ve seen. Peter looked like he had it won with his first ride score of 1246 only for Jason Craig to jump close in his last ride full of big snappy moves to go into 2nd with an 1186.
Then on his last ride Dane shot into the lead with a huge 1316, with only Peter left to go and have one last shot to beat it.
Peter paddled in and let rip, getting all moves pretty much and fighting his hardest to get the Win, the whole crowd was going crazy for him. We were so happy when the score of 1538 came in! Peter 1st, Dane 2nd and Jason Craig 3rd.
This meant his 3rd win of the World Cup and the Overall World Cup 1st for Peter Csonka!
Really couldn’t have been more pleased for him, he really excelled this series and I can’t wait to get back on the water properly next season and compete in such a strong field.
Also worth an extra mention is the great performance of Jason Craig whose been off the water the last two years since a very serious back injury.
It was so great to see him back on the water paddling so well. Another year of training before Worlds and I think he will be another top competitor to add to the growing list of potential winners.
Results: Mens Prelims , Mens 1/4 Finals, Mens Semi Finals, Mens Finals
In the Women’s prelims and semis GBR’s Claire O’hara was leading but the rides weren’t that high scoring. Perhaps due to the difficulty of the feature.
The finals started slowly, the Women were going for the hard moves but missed them mostly, and scores comprised mostly of felix’s and loops. The Hole is tricky and powerful and it’s just not that easy for girls to get the highest scoring moves to go here, it requires a big amount of power and snappiness.
However on their 2nd rides the Women seemed to wake up and started to fight for the medals. Ruth Gordon threw a big ride with some Phonic’s, Mc’Nasties and Loops to get a 495. It was the highest score of the women’s competition so far and it seemed to motivate the women to do their best.
Next was Emily Jackson, getting good phonic’s both ways in her ride coming close and scoring 430. Claire O’hara tried to beat Ruth and Emily and improved on her 1st ride but not enough to move up.
Until the very last ride of the final it looked like Ruth would win. Claire was still sat in 3rd position with her last chance to get the top spot being the last ride of the event.
She really put herself together and went all out going for Switch Mc’nasty, Mc’Nasty, Phonics, Felix, Splits, a huge loop and scored a ride of 633 – a ride definitely worthy of her World Champion status!
She said after the competition that she could not believe what just happened in her rides
The fight in this final was definitely good enough to be a World Championships final. Claire’s score was the highest scoring ride of the series for Womens and in one of the harder features!
Overall Women’s World Cup went to Emily Jackson with Claire just behind in the overall standings taking 2nd.
Results: Womens Prelims, Womens Semi Finals, Womens Finals
In the Junior Mens Palm/ GBR’s Bren Orton was once again the one to watch with a win at the last event on the Pigeon, a 1st in the Prelims and Semi’s, his dominating paddling looked like the other juniors would have a hard time beating him at NOC.
In the finals Hunter Katich went huge on moves but just didn’t do quite enough moves to beat Bren. Brandurn Hepburn also of GBR came close too but in the end Bren’s 2nd ride score of 836 was unbeatable and he had the luxury of a victory lap last ride to claim his 2nd win of the series. Bren 1st, Hunter 2nd, Brandurn 3rd.
Despite Bren’s domination of the last two events his unfortunate flush at Rock island made the difference in the end as the Overall Junior Mens winner was Hunter Katich of the USA with a 1st and two 2nds. I’m sure Bren’s great paddling will make him another tough competitor next year in his first senior Worlds.
Results: Junior Mens Prelims, Junior Mens Semi Finals, Junior Mens Finals
It’s been a really enjoyable trip. With my injury I wasn’t able to compete on the level i’d have liked to, but was very happy with the results I did get. It’s left me and Katya really motivated to train and get ourselves in the best shape for next season.
The NOC feature might well be changed before next year, we really liked it but regardless of feature next September is going to bring a very good competition.
I only wish it would be events every week with such a high standard to compete in It’s always a bit sad when events like these finish. During the series its like a little life for each event and now its over we have to wait quite a while for the next big event to come around. It also gives us lots of time to prepare and get ourselves on the next levels.
A final Congratulations to the overall winners – Peter Csonka, Emily Jackson, Hunter Katich and Nuria Fontane!
Full Results from all events
World Cup Videos – http://www.ustream.tv/channel/icf-canoe-freestyle-world-cup-2012/
Pringle
On finals day the European athletes really shone! Winning all kayak classes (only C1 & Oc1 went to USA).
In the Junior Men’s Palm’s Bren Orton dominated as expected to take the win. He won in the first round with a ride that would be unbeatable by the others and then beat his own score with a 1066 in his 2nd ride. Hunter Katt from the USA did come close with a 950 to take 2nd place scoring huge almost on every move.
In the Junior Women’s Catalonia’s Nuria Fontane took 1st again with Germany’s Julia Spaaij in 2nd and USA’s Lauren Burress in 3rd.
In the Women’s Claire O’hara of GBR showed some real consistency to pull off two over 500 points rides. None of the other girls could beat her winning first ride of 586. Emily Jackson got 2nd with Nina Csonkova in 3rd
In Men’s it was an expected battle between Peter Csonka and Dane Jackson. After 2nd rides Dane had taken the lead with a 1373 point ride that looked like it would seal the win but then Peter fought back with an astonishing 1416 going for every move possible in the hole pretty much. Dane as the winner of the semi’s had the last attempt to beat Peters score and came very close with a 1380 but not quite enough. Peter was 1st, Dane 2nd and Quim took a well deserved 3rd place.
I just couldn’t push properly on my right side and finished 5th, I was mostly happy even be in the finals given my collarbone injury. I got an alright first ride of 916 but I hadn’t recovered enough from the previous rounds to compete properly this time.
Results below:
Men’s Results
Women’s Results
Junior Women’s Results
Junior Men’s Results
C1 Results
OC1 Results
Pringle
This was the toughest day of the event for the men with both Quarterfinals and Semi finals in the same day.
It was tough to make top 10, the cut was about 1800 for 2 rides, which is much higher than Worlds was 1 year ago…but for the top 5 it was even harder. We have pretty much all the same competitors as in Worlds but now Dane and Quim are seniors too. Also Tomas Andrassy from Slovakia, Bartosz and Tomasz from Poland have all became a very strong competitors and are paddling on a top level too.
There are now more than 5 paddlers capable of pulling off an over 1000points ride here.
The hardest thing for me is balancing between scoring a good ride but not pushing too hard on my broken bone 
I came in 8th in the morning, feeling very pleased to make the semi finals. Peter just stole the top spot from Dane again closely followed by Quim.
In the Semi finals we all knew it was going to be a ride of over a 1000 needed at least to make Finals. This time Dane had one of the sickest rides I’ve ever seen (1350) to get 1st ahead of Peter who was 2nd, Quim 3rd, Stephen 4th and myself 5th with 1066points!!!
European contingent is looking strong, with 3 paddlers making the finals. Now its one day off to recover and rest before its time to really throw down properly on Saturday
Results: - http://www.freestylekayaking2013.com/pdfs/results/MensSemiFinalsResultsPigeon.pdf
In the Junior Men’s, Bren had rides in prelims that would have put him 3rd in the Men’s and almost two times ahead of the other Juniors… he looked on fire, getting two trophy moves in his ride even.
Today he was up again in the Semi’s and as expected easily won with 1053 in one ride with USA’s Hunter Katich going very big to get 700points and 2nd place. Also making the finals was GBR’s Brandon Hepburn in 4th place.
Results: - http://www.freestylekayaking2013.com/pdfs/results/JuniorMensK1semiResultsPigeon.pdf
In the Women’s Prelims Katya did very good making the cut for the Semi finals. Claire O’Hara from GBR got 1st in the prelims followed by Ruth Gordon, Nina Csonkova and Emily Jackson.
Results:- http://www.freestylekayaking2013.com/pdfs/results/WomensK1prelimResultsPigeon.pdf
Semi Finals was today and Claire O’hara was looking strong, taking the 1st place again! Katya did very good rides with Entry moves, Phonics and a Loops, everyone was pretty sure she would make the cut but judges thought differently so she ended up 7th missing the cut by 30 points.
Results: - http://www.freestylekayaking2013.com/pdfs/results/WomensK1SemiResultsPigeon.pdf
We’re both happy with how we did today and ready for a rest day tomorrow, as it’s no water releasing. It’s such a good feature here, one of the best holes we’ve ever paddled, finals should be very interesting. I’m really hoping to recover a bit and be able to show my best.
Finals TV will be streamed live from:- http://www.ustream.tv/channel/h2o
Pringle
Straight after the Rock Island we were straightaway on the road for 3 hours to Pigeon river, the site of the 2nd event in this years World Cup.
The hole, built by hand is actually one of the best features I’ve paddled in.
Wit only one day before the event started there wasn’t supposed to be any water, but a surprise afternoon release meant that we were able to practice. I managed 1 ride, liked the hole, it seemed very straightforward so got off so I didn’t strain my collarbone too much.
Yesterday was the first day of competition here, with the Men’s Prelims. With such an easy feature rides were always going to be high.
Notably Dane Jackson scored a 1340 in his first ride and a 1000+ in his 2nd, looking likely that he’d be hard to beat, but then Peter Csonka winner of the first World Cup stepped up once again with a 1430 first ride and a 1158 second ride.
I was in one of the last heats to go and feeling better and better everyday really wanted to get good rides. I can’t push or pull very hard off my right side so just tried to keep smooth and easy so not to need much effort. I had a great first ride and similar second ride getting most of what I was aiming for.
Really really happy to feel a bit more myself and very pleased with how the new Dagger Jitsu play boat is performing for me.
In the end of the day I ended up 4th, Quim from Catalonia 3rd, Dane 2nd and Peter 1st. So another great showing from the Europeans with most of us getting through to the cut of top 20.
Looks set for an interesting battle over the coming days; I hope I can step up to battle with Dane, Quim and Peter…
Men’s Prelims Results below: -
Rank Name Country Run 1 Run 2 Final Score
1 Peter Csonka #161 SVK 1430 1158 2588
2 Dane Jackson #172 USA 1340 1136 2476
3 Joaquim Fontane #194 ESP 1006 936 1942
4 James Bebbington #74 GBR 940 870 1810
5 Nick Troutman #45 CAN 776 983 1759
6 Tomasz Czaplicki #191 POL 1023 653 1676
7 Martin Koll #7 DEU 803 870 1673
8 Bartosz Czauderna #190 POL 846 720 1566
9 Stephan Wright #157 USA 846 708 1554
10 Tomas Andrassy #167 SVK 790 686 1476
11 Michael Patterson #160 USA 703 713 1416
12 Clay Wright #169 USA 525 866 1391
13 Bryan Kirk #63 USA 560 686 1246
14 Abel Thevenet #2 FRA 766 451 1217
15 Eric Jackson #80 USA 670 536 1206
16 David Wild #189 GBR 640 560 1200
17 Kazuya Matsungaga #94 JPN 501 598 1099
18 Adam Chappell #193 CAN 363 716 1079
19 Marcel Bloder #33 AUT 505 526 1031
20 Craig Kleckner #187 USA 580 430 1010
21 Matt Anger #105 USA 521 486 1007
22 Thim Bernard #91 FRA 426 506 932
23 Thomas Dunphy #8 IRL 351 376 727
24 Andrey Pesterev #14 RUS 390 316 706
Women and Junior Men prelims are on today so will have more soon from the Pigeon
Pringle
So the first event of the 2012 World Cup has just finished here in the USA.
The feature in Rock Island was very very tough and no one had much time on the water to practice, which meant quite a lot of surprises from the favourites and some unexpected successes for others.
From the beginning this World Cup it was going to be a battle between the Europeans and the North Americans. For this play spot in Rock Island the Jackson group were definitely favourites with this being their home spot.
They were very consistent in practice, you can see that they know this feature better than anyone else even this level is very unusual for them.
For myself it’s only been 3 weeks since I broke my Collarbone so my biggest hope was that I could compete at all, I knew I probably wasn’t likely to be at the top but I did manage to get a few moves and was very happy to make it to Quarter Finals and finish 17th.
Everything was going smoothly for the North Americans until today when things didn’t go to their plan. In the men’s Semi Finals, Nick Troutman just missed the cut for top 5 after winning the previous two rounds. Then European Junior Girls took the first two places in their final with Nuria from Spain winning.
In Women’s the unpredictable nature of the feature claimed Claire O’Hara current World Champion and Ruth Gordon Ebens former World Champion as casualties in the semis so it was only Nina Csonkova left from the European team in the Final. She got 2nd having pretty consistent rides but no one could really compete with Emily Jackson here who had impressive rides every time to take the Win.
Watching the men’s finals was a real pleasure with the Europeans really getting behind Quim and Peter. For quite a while Quim from Spain was leading with a score over 600 but Dane and EJ was going very hard, with Dane finally taking the lead from Quim with 750points. It looked like this result would stick until Peters last ride when he put himself together and really showed his skill and control to get a 900+point ride.
The sudden change in the European crowds mood was lifted to the sky as we almost lost hope of a win here until Peter last ride. Dane was last to go and had looked on fire here, he knew Peters score and must have felt under pressure. He flushed early in his last ride, this feature isn’t quite retainable, the paddle back up takes 20 seconds so he didn’t have time to really recover when he got back in the hole.
This meant of course that here on the Jackson’s home spot the European teams hero of the moment Peter Csonka took the win with Dane 2nd and Quim 3rd. Gold and Bronze goes to Europe, for us it doesn’t really matter who wins this World Cup, it matters where he’s from. I really want the Europeans to continue to show what we’re capable of here. Hopefully I will be in shape for the last event in 2 weeks time.
For now Congratulations to Peter! We all felt like we’d shared a part of this victory, it was very well deserved.
The Pigeon river World Cup starts in two days, probably without any practice but is much more retentive and consistent apparently, it might all be a different story.
Pringle
