Finals Day

It was hard to believe that the last day had arrived.  The course was set, with not too many changes- same to gate 7,  then changes 8-14, the same move as the heats course from 14-15 (now 15-16)  then double up then a stagger . With semis racing there are lots of mistakes as the paddlers have to really go for it to make the cut of finals ( top 10). It was amazing to watch some of the top athletes make a silly mistake and their finals chances were over.eg  the Italian girl Clara Gai Pron number one qualifier in K1W rolled at gate 14  and that was it!!...
anyway to the NZ team-   first up C1W  and Jane ... paddled a great race and walked along with a happy smile and hadn't realised she had a 50 on downstream gate 12. We looked at the  video and then paid the 75 euro protest fee but it was upheld. - they said it was "half head" , flat time 155.74 + 54  .....  Pretty disappointing as that time medalled in finals.
Kelly did really well with a not so attacking run, and safely got all the moves to gain a 7th place and a finals spot.  Her finals run was similiar, keeping steady and not being overawed by the occasion she did really well.  -finishing 6th in the inaugural C1W junior world championships- a great achievement for Kelly and something to tell the grandkids. Time 179.08 clean.
Jessica Fox took the gold in 133.51 + 4
C1W is a developing class and the ICF had a training camp for developing this group for the future. At the moment not many countries are taking it seriously, with not many of the powerful slalom nations paddling  eg no Germans, Slovenians, Slovakians or Czechs in juniors. Am sure that will change especially if it becomes an Olympic class in 2016.
The K1 men-  Up first was Callum. Knowing how tight the K1 mens final would be the boys had to lay down a special run without errors and nailing every move.. Unfortunately this wasn't to be on the day. Callum had some trouble at gate 7 and then mucked up gate 14 . His time 115.97 +2  Carl had to recirc for 7 and his time ended up 140.30 + 4. Tight racing with 10 seconds from 1st-21st in K1M.
Callum, who was pretty disappointed ended up 23rd and Carl 37th.

Jessica Fox made it two gold medals and won K1 W ahead of Karolina Galuska ( Vlada from Galasports daughter).

Kids all safely home after the party last night and just about to get up and start the clean up. Driving to Barcelona ( approx 4 hours)  for the night then will put them all on the plane.
I will update in the next few days with some fantastic race photos taken by Peter Ewing and Max and Odette Webster from Australia- keep looking....

I am staying in Europe until after senior worlds so if you want to follow my travels  www.sjctravels.blogspot.com