Sovereign Succeeded! Czech kayaker celebrates fifth world gold, Martin Fuksa won bronze

He made it known before the WC that he would aim for at least the eleventh world medal at his favorite distance. He set off vigorously after her, already in the middle of the track with a narrow lead. Then he accelerated even more and the rest of the starting field was not eligible. The second Jean Westhuyzen from Australia on Dostála lost more than a second.

“In the last hundred meters I already knew that no one could take the title from me, I was already enjoying it. The last two buoys before the finish line I already shouted to myself, I was overjoyed that I have the fifth world champion title in my pocket,” he said in the recording for the media.

The four-time Olympic medalist Dostál then fought for one more precious metal, an hour after the final of the 500m, he had a kilometer to go. In it, he took fifth place with a loss of more than a second to bronze medalist Jakob Schopf from Germany. Hungarian Olympic champion Bálint Kopasz won by five hundredths ahead of Portugal’s Fernando Pimenta.

The demanding program took its toll on Dostál. “I’ve had enough. I’m more into one performance, just get it in there. And then I’m done. The first race went perfectly. The second one wasn’t bad, it’s a nice fifth place,” he said. He fulfilled what he set out to do for the championship after the lack of training from the winter training. “Complete satisfaction with the weekend,” he added.

While Dostál fumbled in the spring part of the season, Martin Fuksa reigned supreme at the World Cups. However, he did not dominate at the World Championships, nor did he secure direct progress to the finals in any discipline. He did not start the non-Olympic 500 quickly, in the middle he was out of the medal positions with a relatively large loss on his forehead. In the second part, he moved forward and finally had a chance for another silver, losing only less than three tenths of a second to the second Romanian, Catalina Chirila.

Saturday’s bronze is Fuksa’s eleventh medal from the World Cup. “The feelings are great. With how I struggled here, to be third at the World Championships is absolutely great. Of course before the championship I thought a little higher, but I have to be humble about this. I had nothing better to do here at the moment,” said Fuksa , who still awaits the kilometer final on Sunday.

His younger brother Petr was sixth in the 200m. Less than three tenths of a second separated him from the medal, thirteen hundredths from the fourth place. “Today was probably the best race I’ve driven here. I’m satisfied with the sixth place. I haven’t had a better place at the World Championships, so great,” he praised.

On the other hand, the elite Czech four-kayak Jakub Špicar, Radek Šlouf, Jakub Zavřel and Daniel Havel did not fulfill their ambition to place in the better half of the final nine, which they had after winning in the semi-final. In the final of the 500, the Czechs traditionally had a slower start, but this time they did not move forward even in the second half and finished ninth. Thus, they did not follow up on last year’s bronze medal of the crew, which included Jan Vorel instead of Zavřel.