The German canoeist Sebastian Brendel has confirmed his short-term home World Championship nomination with the preliminary victory in the Canadian single over the 1000 meters.
The three-time Olympic champion, who was in poor form recently, easily advanced to the semifinals on the regatta course in Duisburg on Wednesday, which will be held on Thursday.
The eleven-time world champion set the second best time of all five heats with 4:02.949 minutes, only the Romanian title defender Catalin Chirila was faster – but by more than five seconds. Brendel has more medal chances in the 5000 meters and in mixed.
Kayak foursome makes its mark
The kayak foursome also set an example. Max Rendschmidt, Max Lemke, Jacob Schopf and Tom Liebscher-Lucz confidently won their heat in the semi-finals over the 500 meters. Most recently at the European Games in Kraków, the foursome disappointed with fifth place, with Ronald Rauhe instead of Schopf there was Olympic gold in Tokyo in 2021.
The women’s Olympic K4 with Lena Röhlings, Katinka Hofmann, Sarah Brüssler and Enja Rössling missed the direct entry into the final and has to take a detour via the semi-finals. Paulina Paszek and Jule Hake went straight into the final with a preliminary win in the K2 over 200 meters, as did Lisa Jahn and Heidi Kliemke in the C2 with second place over the same distance.
Florstedt preliminary winner
Annika Loske reached the semi-finals in the Olympic canoe singles over the 200 meters as third in her heat. On the non-Olympic routes, Moritz Florstedt, as the winner of his heat in the K1 over 500 meters, and Peter Kretschmer, third in the C1 men over 200 meters, made it into the semi-finals. This was also achieved by Conrad Scheibner as second in his lead in the C1 over 500 meters.
The World Cup in Duisburg, which runs until Sunday, is the highlight of the year for racing canoeists. Numerous quota places for the Olympic Games in Paris will be awarded. Last year, the German team won 14 medals at the World Championships in Canada (2 gold, 7 silver, 5 bronze).