Last weekend my first race this year took place in the Italian City Mantova. Our Swiss Team is competing there traditionally and I was there for the 6th time. So I knew before what to expect and hoped for a place in the Top 5. Italy and Slovenia used this race as a selection for international races and also teams from Poland, Finland and Croatia were competing there. Because it was my first full 1000m this year, I was curious about my racing. On Saturday morning I was kicked out in the 200m heat, so this chapter was finished for this weekend after something less than 40 seconds. Before lunch I was standing on the start for my heat over 1000m. Because there were 9 heats only first 3 and no best times came into Semifinal. I had a strong heat, so it was a good test already. I had a really good pressure on my paddle and was able to let the boat run with a deep frequency. 250m before the finish I was in front of the field. At this moment I was able to control a bit and crossed the finish line with the best time over all heats.
In the semifinal on the afternoon I had a much easier run than in the heat. Originally it was the plan to do a good hard run and fight with my Slovenian training partner Lovro Leban. But after a terrible start and a bad feeling in the first 500m I decide to change the plan and save energy for the final on Sunday. I finished second in this Semi, with a worldjourney behind Lovro. A race to forget and look forward to the final! I started there on lane 7 next to Jost Zakrajsek from Slovenia. Because I know that he is a fast starter I tried not to let him go too far away. This worked really good, he was mostly time of the race with a half boat length in front of my boat. On the last 200m I started my finish sprint. I had a lot of energy for that and was overtaking Jost. I did not look so much for the other opponents and just focused on my paddling. On the finish lane I saw that I crossed third, one boat behind Maximilian Benassi the Olympian from the Italian team and a half of a boat behind Lovro. With this result I’m really happy for the moment. I was never so close to this guys and it’s my first time on the podium in Mantova.
Next Wednesday I leave Switzerland again, now for the first World Cup in Szeged (HUN). I really like the place there, Szeged is for us paddlers like the Wembley Stadium for the football players. I’m wondering how my K1 1000m runs on Worldcup level. On 500m I try with my Swiss training partner Stefan Domeisen a K2. We already did some national races together but don’t know where we stand in relation to the top guys. We will see and you will be able to read what happened on this website!
Results Mantova K1 Men 1000m
- Maximilian Benassi (ITA) 3:36.44
- Lovro Leban (SLO) 3:37.15
- Fabio Wyss (SUI) 3:37.97
