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Ricarda Funk (front) on her way to the gold medal
Photo:
IMAGO/Oryk HAIST
The German slalom canoeists won gold in their very first competition at the home world championships in Augsburg.
Led by Tokyo Olympic champion Ricarda Funk, the trio with Jasmin Schornberg and Elena Lilik drove a flawless run in the non-Olympic team competition and ended up 2.48 seconds ahead of the Slovenians, who were also flawless.
Poland came in third.
»It's cool that all three drivers hit everything like that.
I don't know when I've ever experienced it like that," said Funk, who was impressed by the atmosphere: "The spectators are fully behind us, we can rely on that." The 30-year-old was last thrown back because of a corona infection she had been "fully in training" again for three weeks, she had said before the start of the World Cup.
For Lilik from Augsburg, after all the surprise world champion last year in canoes, it was pure relief: “I felt a bit sick, I was super excited.
You don't want to make mistakes in a team.
That was the best team run we've ever done,” said Lilik.
The first home World Cup in 19 years had been on the brink because of the drought of the past few weeks, and the Lech was affected by water shortages.
Concrete pillars and wooden beams that were installed only for a short time, as well as the announced rainfall, ensure relaxation.
The title fights on the Olympic course from 1972 last until Sunday.
The preliminary heats are scheduled for Thursday and Friday, before the decisions in the individual and in the extreme slalom, which will be Olympic for the first time in 2024, are made at the weekend.
ngo/dpa/sid
