Maialen Chourraut in action on the Augsburg Whitewater Canal. /
Maialen Chourraut achieves fifth position in the World Cup in Germany, where he reappeared after his shoulder operation
Maialen Chourraut did not get a medal at the World Cup in Augsburg, but the fifth place she achieved made her happier than some better results she has achieved throughout her career. “It’s incredible,” she assured after the competition in statements to BAT Basque Team. “If someone one or two months ago told me that he was going to be in the World Cup final, I would have told him that he was crazy,” she acknowledged.
And it is that the lasarteoriatarra competed for the first time after the shoulder operation to which she was subjected in February and subsequent recovery process, in which she is still immersed. «She wanted to compete so as not to leave the year almost blank. She simply wanted to be at the start, that was already a goal in itself, but she did not expect at all to reach the final and be fifth ».
It is one of his best results in the eleven world championships in which he has participated, equaling that of London 2015 and behind the silver medals in La Seu d’Urgell in 2009 and bronze in Bratislava in 2011.
The day began with a semifinal in which he achieved sixth place, despite a two-second penalty. He had to wait for 28 more paddlers to come down to see himself inside. And in the final Chourraut was confident again and was third at the end, although there were six more to compete and then she lost two positions. She was finally fifth, 7”54 behind the winner Ricarda Funk, who was followed by Jessica Fox, gold and bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where the Guipuzcoan was silver.
Chourraut acknowledged that “he had not even brought spare clothes for the final.” He also that «what has amazed me the most is that I have gotten my best navigation in the three descents. A couple of weeks ago I was having a lot of problems.”
In any case, “I want to keep my feet on the ground and not get too excited about this result because I still have a lot of work to do. I am not strong, I am not loose, although I do notice that I am improving day by day.
Crespo, from more to less
Joan Crespo was also looking for the K-1 final and made a descent from more to less, with an excellent first third, an acceptable second and a final section in which problems accumulated in the form of touches, even skipping the last door when seeing no options. He was in 37th place.
Today will be the turn of the canoists. Klara Olazabal has her semifinal at 9.23 and Ander Elosegi, at 10.30. The top ten go on to the finals, which will be played at noon.
In the afternoon it will be the extreme turn, a modality that will be Olympic in 2024. Maialen Chourraut and Miren Lazkano made it to the quarterfinals this Saturday and Klara Olazabal, Olatz Arregi and Joan Crespo were eliminated.
