One week ago the first big event was held in the 2015 paddlers year. At the European Championships in Racice competed over 800 athletes from 35 countries. It was a good field especially in the Single Kayak. Some really good paddlers already fell out in the heats. Also I needed to paddle faster then I wanted, to survive my heat.
For the Semifinal I tried to improve my technique and find a long powerful stroke. I had a really good feeling for the water, but I also felt that my frequency is too low. Especially for the tail wind we had. I had power for a good finish, but I was too much behind. Finally the field was very close together but I made only a disappointing 7th place. So the next day I was on the start line for the B-Final. I was not very pleased with my tactical and technical paddling so far in this Championships. And for the B-Final I also needed to change some stuff. I now had a much better start and was quite good in the field. In the last meters I tried to push again, but my arms were empty. Many paddlers catch me in the last metres, so I finished 8. Again the field was very close together and a lot of things were not how I wanted to race. I knew before the competition that it will be very hard for me to start at European Championships with only one race before over 1000m. At least the margin to better places is not too big and I know I have a lot to improve technical and tactical. So there is some work for me the next days, weeks and months.
There was one more race at this European Championships, the 5000m mass start race. For me it was a chance to go away from this event with a good feeling. I started good, one of the best starts ever probably. Before the first turning after one kilometre, I was placed in the Top 5. As usual there happens some crashes in the first turning and this was not the best for me. I lost the leading group and worked now together with a Russian, Hungarian and Portuguese Star Fernando Pimenta. Nobody wanted to make the speed in this group. I also tried to save some energy for the finish. Pimenta finally won it and the Hungarian and me were very close together, but the hundreds were on his side. So in the end I finished 9th about 30seconds behind the 3rd place. I am very pleased with this result. I showed that my physics are good and I improved my start and endurance during the winter. So now I need to put this all together for fast 1000metres.
K1 1000m
1. Max Hoff (GER) 3:33.416
2. René Holten Poulsen (DEN) 3:35.080
3. Fernando Pimenta (POR) 3:35.616
17. Fabio Wyss (SUI) Rang 8 im B-Final
K1 5000m
1.René Holten Poulsen (DEN) 20:01.650
2. Max Hoff (GER) 20:03.290
3. Aleh Yureniah (BLR) 20:21.560
9. Fabio Wyss (SUI) 20:53.490
