European Freestyle Championships

(photo: Sally Montgomery)

The European Freestyle Championships recently took place in Lienz, Austria. The hole was bouncy, flushy and very hard to find the retentive spot for any loop-type moves – so much so that the majority of ladies (including myself) and many men scored 0 points in at least 1 prelim ride! Thankfully, just one air loop (from both rides) for the ladies was enough to obtain a position in the semis, and by finals my rides had become more consistent.  (photo: Jamie Austen)

The ladies were generally sticking 2 – 3 moves maximum and due to the nature of the hole most of us saved the low-scoring moves till last going straight in for the loops. Air loops and helixes were the easiest reasonable scoring moves to be consistent with, yes helixes in holes do look rubbish, but for some reason they are worth 100 points… so, why not?! These 2 moves helped me to obtain 3rd place, another international medal for my collection Marlene Devillez (FRA) had an awesome ride in the finals with an entry end linked into a huge air loop and another air loop later in the ride giving her a winning 300 point score.

(Photo: Sam Ward)

The men were sticking bigger moves more easily than the ladies, though it was hard to link moves. James (pringle) Bebbington (GBR) had been leading throughout each round scoring more and more each time, with huge McNasties and textbook aerial phonix monkeys. But Peter Csonka (SLO) had his best ride at the right time in the finals edging ahead of Pringle to give him the Gold medal. The GB paddlers did well with 5 float boat medals and 3 (unofficial) squirt boat medals (see www.gbfreestylekayak.com for more details of the British results). Full event results can be found at http://www.euro-lienz.com/

The cardboard boat race drew in the biggest crowds of the event (mainly because it had briefly stopped raining during that time – but also because the general public had a rough idea of what they were trying to do!).

Team GB (above) did well, the craft stayed intact and upright right to the end of the course (as did 50% of the team!).