The finals of men’s kayak, women’s C1 and Canadian doubles were the last stage of Oceania Championships in Penrith where also Slovenian team participated. Slovenian finalists of the last day were Luka Božič – Sašo Taljat who finished 4th in C2 and Martin Albreht who was 5th in K1m.
At the Olympic course in Australia the best Slovenian achievement of the last day of Oceania Championships became fourth place of Canadian double Luka Božič and Sašo Taljat. They were quite satisfied with the placement but not with the performance: “We’re not satisfied with the runs. In the last week we had some problems with fatigue. The boat runs smoothly, but there was no real feeling. When we get home we’ll have some rest and then we’ll start preparing for the selection races,” said Luka Božič. The other Slovenian duo Luka Slapšak – Urban Jarc was 14th. Marcin Pochwala – Piotr Szczepanski (POL) won in front of Franz Anton – Jan Benzien (GER) and Fabien Lefevre – Denis Gargaud Chanut (FRA).
The only Slovenian finalist in men’s K1 was Martin Albreht who came into final with 11th result of semi-final. This was possible because of the fact that not all the finalists were part of ICF Ranking race scoring system, so altogether 12 competitors started in the final. Albreht improved his performance in the final and finished the championships in fifth place. “I am pleased with the result, but not with paddling. I lost a medal in the last two gates. The boat ran smoothly and the feelings are in place,” evaluated his run Martin Albreht. Surprisingly Peter Kauzer didn’t advance to the final and only waved his hand with disatisfaction after crossing the finish line. “The fourth gate was a bit low, so I didn’t manage to get the boat trough and I touched the gate. After that it was okay, until I hit the gate 11 and the last gate and on top of that I was given 50 penalty seconds. The run was really bad, but nevertheless I was the fastest. I trained here for seven weeks and had only one day of rest, so I look forward to return home,” said Kauzer who was 32nd at the end.
Daniele Molmenti (ITA) won with nearly three seconds advantage over German kayakers Alexander Grimm and Sebastian Schubert who were second and third. Kauzer was not the only one of the favorites that was stuck in the semi-final. Besides him medalists from the last World Championships Mateusz Polaczyk and Fabien Lefevre, Czech paddler Vavrinec Hradilek, Frenchman Boris Neveu and some other also followed the final from the bank.
In women’s canoe final the Australian team took all the medals. Jessica Fox won in front of Rosalyn Lawrence and Leanne Guinea.
