In the most dramatic finale, the Rothe Mühle Essen team secured the German championship title in the finals. Goalkeeper Jill Rutzen became the match winner.
The women of the canoe club Rothe Mühle Essen are the new German champions in speed canoe polo. In the final in Duisburg’s inner harbor, they prevailed against the defending champions from the Coburg/Schney paddling and sailing club with 4:6 nP. For a long time, the Coburg women looked like the sure winners, only 17 seconds before the end Essen, outnumbered, managed to make it 4:4. This went into the penalty shootout, where Jill Rutzen first converted one attempt and then saved two. So Rothe Mühle was able to celebrate the title.
The Alster-Canoe-Club from Hamburg clearly won the match for third place 6:1 against the North-West Berlin Kayak Club. The Hanseatic women thus secured the bronze medal. The Berliners, on the other hand, went away empty-handed after silver last year.
Semi-finals: Coburg without problems, Essen defeats Berlin
The women from Coburg made it into the final against Hamburg without much effort. Especially after the change of sides, the defending champions put a lot of pressure on and, after being 3-1 at the break, kept things clear until halfway through the second half (6-1). The team from Upper Franconia was finally able to win 8:2.
The second semi-final was much harder fought. Essen scored a 4-2 win against Berlin by half-time. After that, the attacking efforts of both teams went unrewarded for a long time, although the capital city team managed to catch up, the game was decided with the 5:3 half a minute before the end.
Coburg versus Hamburg in the semifinals.
What is the difference to normal canoe polo?
Speed canoe polo is more dynamic than the normal variant and is characterized by a more compact field (30 x 20 meters), smaller teams (four instead of five players), a shorter playing time (2 x 9 minutes) and less time per attack. The teams have 30 seconds on the so-called “shotclock” to take a goal shot. If that doesn’t happen, the right to attack changes, after a foul the “shot clock” is reset.