Kayaker Josef Dostál is the world champion in the 500 meters. He dominated the final at the speed canoeist championship in Halifax, Canada, with a huge lead and has his fifth world title, his third of this non-Olympic course after 2017 and 2018. The second Czech medal in today’s program was also won by canoe Martin Fuksa, who won bronze at 500m.
He had already announced before the WC that he would be eyeing at least an eleventh world medal at his favorite distance. He set off eagerly after her, already in the middle of the track with a slim lead. Then he accelerated even more and the rest of the starting court was ineligible. Australia’s second Jean Westhuyzen at Dostála lost by more than a second.
“In the last hundred meters I’ve known that no one can take the title from me, I’ve enjoyed it. The last two buoys before the finish I was screaming to myself, I’m so happy that I have my fifth world title in my pocket,” he said in a recording for the media.
Four-time Olympic medalist Dostál then battled for one more precious metal, an hour after the 500m final, he had another kilometer. In it, he took fifth place with a loss of just over a second to bronze medalist Jakob Schopf of Germany. Hungarian Olympic champion Bálint Kopasz won by a margin of five hundred over Fernando Pimenta of Portugal.
That demanding program had an impact on Dostál. “I’ve had enough. I’m more into one performance, just go in there. And then I’m done. The first race went perfectly. The second wasn’t bad, it was a good fifth place,” he said. said. He fulfilled what he wanted to do for the championship after a lack of training from winter training. “Perfect satisfaction with the weekend,” he added.
While Dostál fumbled in the spring part of the season, Martin Fuksa reigned supreme at the World Cup. However, he did not dominate at the World Championships, nor did he secure direct progress to the finals in any discipline. He didn’t start the non-Olympic 500 quickly, in the middle he dropped out of medal position with a relatively big loss on the forehead. In the second, she moved forward and finally had a chance for another silverware, losing less than three tenths of a second to second Romanian Catalina Chirila.
Today’s bronze is Fuksa’s eleventh medal from the World Cup. “The feeling is great. With how I fought here, being third in the World Championships is really great. Of course, before the championship I thought a little higher, but I have to be humble about this. I have nothing better to do. here at this time,” said Fuksa, who was still waiting for the final kilometer on Sunday.
His younger brother Petr was sixth in the 200m. Less than three tenths of a second separated him from the medals, thirteen hundred from fourth place. “Today was probably the best race I have ever ridden here. I am satisfied with sixth position. I have never had a better place in the World Championship, very good,” he praised.
On the other hand, the elite Czech four-kayak team Jakub picar, Radek louf, Jakub Zavřel and Daniel Havel did not fulfill his ambition to place in the better half of the nine finals, which he had after winning the semi-finals. In the final 500, the Czechs have traditionally had a slower start, but this time they didn’t move forward even in the second half and finished ninth. As such, they did not follow up on last year’s bronze medal from the crew, which included Jan Vorel instead of Zavřel.
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