Semi Saturday: Thun Day 6

Drained expressions and blank stares covered the faces of many a paddler this morning, the morning after the night before, told tales of party revellers and high octane music at the World Championship Loser Party in Thun. Yet for the selection few, well 60 paddlers who had made it to Semi Finals, there was no party, just an appointment with the wave, twice shots, one high scoring run for Sunday’s Grand Final.

The open boaters started us off just after lunch, where catching the wave is difficult with most of those kayak conversions to OC1. The rules that governed this class, are that the boat must be able to carry 40 litres of water with the paddler in the boat. Thus the kayak conversions are often too small once the additional water gets in, plus the paddler sits a little higher resulting in a higher centre of gravity. Needless to say, it can be a painful class to watch. The runs are quick but the scores are low, occasionally there are a few near amazing moves. Jeremy Laucks of the USA pulled ahead of current champ Pätsch Stephan from Germany to win the round, plus two other Germans made the cut Toby Hüther and Fabian Krumreich with Spain’s Areta Odei on 8 points getting 5th place! These boys are under pressure from the ICF to up participation or be cut from Future Worlds, this is the reality of potential IOC inclusion. On finals day Jacques Rogge the IOC President comes to see what Freestyle Kayaking is all about!!!!

Next up were the Juniors, for the girls Nouria killed it again, with a score three times that of the rest of the field. Nouria, in addition to her blunts, attempted both a donkey flip and helix, not bad for a slight figure of a girl, strong is this one. Local girl Leoni placed 2nd, to ensure we’re have a noisy crowd on Sunday afternoon. With the boys, Jason Craig again continued to dominate the rounds, its all smiles and thumbs up for this lad, the cup is in sight. Yet his domination is being cut into, as both Sebastien from France and Joaquim from Spain step their performances up today with air screws, aerial blunts and big air pan-ams to ensure some minor doubt, although the outcome is far from certain, this title is Jason Craig’s for the taking.

Next up were the ladies, and again the top 5 fired up the heat, by paddling at a level well out of sight from the next 5. There were a few nerves should as the initial surf’s were established, yet once a few moves we hit, there was only one outcome. The top five in their first runs of semi’s secured the place in the finals. Mariann Sæther found all her moves in one run to win the semi’s, a surprise that unseated Emily Jackson and Ruth Gordon’s duelling domination of the top 2 spots thus far. In Finals here will be 3 runs, where one the single highest score will count, so the favourites can relax a little into their paddling, knowing that there are at least 3 chances to win.

In the C1, Guillaume LaRue dominated, not unlike earlier semi’s where the favourite was under pressure, fell a little short in performance, yet managed to stay a head of the pack, the UK’s David Bainbridge and Odei Areta of Spain raised their game. The off side blunts and pan-ams are amazing to watch, especially with the higher sitting position gives more leverage for bigger air. Its ace stuff to watch, especially under the lights. Note another French paddler made Finals, the army of “le Blu” supporters has certainly livened up the 750 capacity grand stand that is nearly always full. The event organisers have put on a great show, and as I type this blog late on Saturday night, yet another party of great music is underway, and again the French are leading the charge for maximum action.

Squeezed in between the C1 and K1 mens, was the VW Big Air event, prelims were earlier in the day. Under flood lights the 10 or so paddlers in the Big Air Final, the capacity crowd with the big screen playing back the action, cheered for more, and more big moves were attempted, and a few landed. Anton of Sweden was the master of flight, and although the results are unknown, Anton stole the show.

Next up and last in order were the Mens. On all big occasions, the high flyers can fall and those struggling earlier on can find their form, and this is nearly always the case, and today was no exception. Current World Champ, first up EJ finally found form to blow away his heat, and stamp his name on the Finals, and this style tactical move played its part to lessen the certainty of the previously mighty. Peter Csonka and Miku Lantto, both 3rd and 2nd yesterday, fell away with minor mistakes amidst high scoring rides. Surprise addition for tomorrow Jules Gallais from France, cranked it up, so an amazing aerial ride to claim 3rd place in semi’s, along with Jonny Meyers, both had just made it through the quarterfinals. Nick Troutman the firm favourite, wobbled in his first ride, and needed to wait until the second attempt to claim his ticket to final, where Stephen Wright in the earlier heat had less pressure to delivery from the other paddlers, and so fired up another ride that included his fast action pistol flip. Competition is such a cruel arena for great paddlers, its do or die, and today we saw several of the top paddler’s fall short, that is the nature of the beast, so get ready to raw on Sunday for World Champions will be made.