The first day of the 2022 FISU World University Championship Canoe Sprint definitely belonged to the Poles. Out of seven finals, the Poles won… seven gold medals!
The C1 women 200m final was won by Ewelina Antos, second place went to Canadian Evie McDonald, and third place went to Portuguese Inês Penetra. In the K1 women 200m category, Olympic medalist Helena Wisniewska won gold. Right behind her, there was Ukrainian Ivanna Dyachenko, and on the last place on the podium was Czech Anezka Paloudova. K4 men 200m was won by the foursome of Jakub Stepun, Bartosz Grabowski, Slawomir Witczak and Jakub Michalski. Second place went to the Portuguese team of Iago Bebiano, Rúben Boas, Gustavo GonÇalves and Pedro Casinha. In third place was the foursome from Ukraine, consisting of Vasyl Smilka, Vitalii Bratash, Valerii Harap and Vladyslav Lysianyi. Another gold medal for Poland, in the C4 men 200m category, was won by Oleksii Koliadych, Mateusz Borgieł, Remigiusz Nowaczyk and Adrian Kłos. Second place took Spaniards Iignacio Calvo Moya, Yeray GarcÍa Vidal, Diego Gonzalez Ormazabal, Gonzalo Moreno Costales. Only two teams competed in this category. The K4 women 200m category was won by Martyna Klatt, Julia Gorska, Julia Olszewska and Helena Wisniewska. Second place went to Czech women Katerina Zarubova, Barbora Betlachova, Stepanka Sobiskova and Eliska Betlachova, while third place belonged to Portuguese women Mafalda Germano, Sara Sotero, Maria Inês BrandÃo and Inês Costa. In the C2 women 200m category, Poland’s Julia Walczak and Ewelina Antos were again the winners. Second place was won by Canadians Jessica McKay and Evie McDonald, and third place went to France’s Elora Helle and Laura Ruiz.
We asked gold medalist Ewelina Antos about her emotions after winning two gold medals. “I really didn’t expect such a result. I wasn’t doing well this season, but as you can see I bounced back from the bottom. Everything is possible when you fight till the end.”
In today’s last final in the C2 men 500m category, Adrian Klos and Oleksii Koliadych won. The second place belonged to Spaniards Diego Gonzalez Ormazabal and Yeray GarcÍa Vidal. On the last place on the podium were Canadians Foster Selpeter and Edouard Beaumier.
At the end of the day, all medalists received commemorative medals. Tomorrow we begin another day of competition at the 2022 FISU World University Championship Canoe Sprint.
