Germany’s canoe slalom scene is one of the world’s best. The World Cup begins in the English Lee Valley – which is also important for the Olympic Games.
When the starting signal sounds on Tuesday at the World Championships in Lee Valley, England, the German slalom canoeists and kayak cross athletes will not only have their sights set on World Championship medals. From September 19th to 24th, K1 Olympic champion Ricarda Funk, C1 world champion Andrea Herzog and Co. will also be fighting for quota places for the 2024 Olympic Games: The route to Paris will lead via Lee Valley.
“The track is super cool”
For Funk, the facility, which was built for the 2012 Olympics, is likely to be a good omen. “I was able to win my first World Cup medal here in 2015”says the current double world champion in the kayak single sculls and exudes anticipation: “The route is super cool. It’s difficult, very demanding, but it’s also incredibly fun.”
The World Cup competitions start on Tuesday with the team competitions, and the individual medals will be fought for from Friday. In addition to Funk and Herzog, Sideris Tasiadis also wants to successfully defend his title – albeit as C1 world champion “a bit of a different pressure there” than at the home game last year, as the Augsburg player emphasized.
Difficult Olympic qualification
In London, 15 quota places are allocated for Paris in the women’s and men’s kayaks, and twelve in the Canadian kayak. Eleven German starters and another 49 nations are fighting for this.
Previously, a starting place was up for grabs in all disciplines at the European Games in Krakow with the exception of kayak cross, which will be Olympic for the first time next year. There, Funk in the kayak single scull and Elena Lilik in the canoe single sculls had managed to get a ticket for the German Canoe Association (DKV) with their European Championship titles – apparently.
Overall, the Games were very successful: the German team won six medals – three of them gold.
Unclear criteria complicate the plans
The catch? In continental competitions, each nation is only allowed one quota place per gender. It is currently unclear whether the DKV will be in K1 or C1.
In general, the Olympic quota places are not tied to an individual. Who will ultimately be allowed to travel to Paris will be decided via the national qualifying competitions in spring 2024.