Fabio Wyss

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

Last weekend I competed at my first competition in this season. In the Italian city Mantova started over 1000 Athletes from 12 countries. The Swiss Team had a short travel because we have been training for one week at our favourite place Pusiano just before the race.

My start into the first Regatta was just terrible. Over 200m I did not survive the Heats. I had one of the hardest Heats but my paddling was so bad that this can not be an excuse. It does not matter so much because I do not really care about this short distance, but I was angry because I knew that I progressed in short stuff over Winter but was not able to show it.

Also over 1000m I didn’t really feel comfortable in Heats. At least my time was fast, but my technique was not the way I want to race. I progressed in the Semifinals and was happy to feel power on the blade and make my stroke a little bit longer. I traditionally have problems at the first races but it is as traditional that I improve from race to race. So I was looking forward to be in the final on Sunday and give everything I have. The conditions out on the water were much calmer than on Saturday and I had a good feeling in the warm-up. My start was really good, but then I was a little bit confused, because the speaker called out a false start. I stopped paddling and saw that everybody goes, so I also had to go. This was sure not an optimal start in the race, but anyway I tried to made my thing. Finally I came over the finish as 3rd. I am happy with this result and especially that I made some step in the right direction from race to race. Now I do one week more of training camp in Pusiano. Then go back for a short time to Switzerland and in the end of April we already go to European Championships. The Swiss Team will only be Stefan Domeisen and me there. He made it to the finals as well and will race the 500m distance. I will race 1000m and 5000m and look forward to go to Racice CZE.

K1 1000m Herren

1. Dressino Giulio (ITA) 3:33.46

2. Zakrajsek Jost (SLO) 3:34.18

3. Wyss Fabio (SUI) 3:36.55

9. Domeisen Stefan (SUI) 3:45.67

When I write waiting it doesn’t mean, that I am sitting around somewhere lost with no idea what to do. In my situation it is another meaning. It is thinking, hoping and imagine all the time for the first competition of the upcoming season. Especially when I am training, every stroke has some connection to the first race. This year it will be again the international race in Mantova (ITA). After my little injury last year where I missed this competition, I can start again at this nice and historical place. The race will be held on the 11th/12th April.

This intense waiting, wondering and being excited just started some days ago. Last weekend I had a good performance test in Rapperswil, where I showed my progress over the Winter. I think especially the last training camp in Kineret (ISR) helped a lot to push some new limits. The last two weeks in Israel went over very fast and we guys were able to do some even faster training than the days before. Finally there was no slow training, every session had some high quality and that is very new for me.

In this last camp there was already some small race, but it was not over the olympic 1000m. It was 10 times longer „ouch“. The Jordan Valley Kayak race was held on the 6th of March and was hard as expected. There was a strong wind and the organizers changed the course because of this. Finally it was more various and a little more difficult because we had some narrow turns in the Jordan River. After the start I managed to hold the speed from Ilya Medwedev from Russia. We were able to make some distance between the rest of the field. I also helped to hold the speed high which was probably not the best tactic if I want to beat him. But I was able to go on my personal limits and get some experience. After the first half of the race I was suffering quite a bit and there was nothing in my arms to put the speed up, when Ilya attacked. I lost him there and defended my second place. I was quite happy with this test, I knew before that his endurance is much better than mine. But I learned a lot from him and made some progress in my endurance.

Me, Ilya Medwedev (RUS) and Miika Dietrich (FIN)

I hope to transform this progress in longer endurance quickly to some higher speed. For this task we drive to Pusiano (ITA) next Saturday. I am looking forward for one of my favourite places to paddle. Not far away from Mantova which makes the waiting a little easier.

If you want to read some interesting stuff about the camp in Israel check out this article, written by Orit Arfa. http://oritarfa.net/kayaking-for-gold-on-the-kinneret/

Place 13 over 1000m in the K1 event. After my 12th place last year, I may should be disappointed with this result. There are many reasons to disagree to this opinion. First it is obvious that the concurrence was much harder than last year in Duisburg. For example Fernando Pimenta POR, Adam van Koeverden CAN, Cyrille Carré FRA and even World Champion Josef Dostal CZE didn’t start in the K1 in Duisburg. Everybody from this guys beat me in Moscow. For sure I also don’t forget my injury and illness that I had to fight with this season. Finally I just had 2 months of really good training before this Worlds, and I was able to achieve a good level again. And last I improved my personal best time. I know that in our sport it is very important to have perfect conditions for fast times, and this we sure found there in Moscow. So the times are not as important as in other sports. It’s a little sad, that my race in the B-Final was not very good, otherwise I could come even closer the 3:30. So my conclusion, I am pretty happy with all the solid races I did and I take the 13th place as a gift after the most difficult season in my career.

I try hard to forget that I also raced the 5000m race, because it was definitely the worst 5km in my life. But I did it and what can I say, it was just bad. I did a lot of wrong decisions, I didn’t have the energy you need to have and I also had some bad luck. I was close to give up this race, but there was something in my brain that told me to finish the race. Whatever this something was, I sometimes hate it, but it is also the impulse of my motivation and so I kind of love it. Finally I finished 20th and what makes me more sad than this result is the rumour that this probably was the last 5000m race at World championships. I really hope this is not true and if it is true, I hope they listen to all us athletes who love this special race and change their mind.

I only can make compliments, they made everything for us athletes. I liked the venue a lot and also the spectators seemed to be fair and cheered for everybody. There were some discussions about politics before and during the competition and I am thankful that we had no boycott. I absolutely understand the discussion and I also think it is correct to discuss about it, but finally we are a sport of great friendships and low salary and it would be wrong to penalize us hard working athletes. There is also an interview about this thematic in German from the „Aargauer Zeitung“. If you are interested to read you can do with this link.

My plans for the next weeks are not all very clear. I won’t do too much of paddling and gym because my arm need some more rest now. Sure I will do some sport because at 6th/7th September the Swiss Championships will take place in Rapperswil. I also need to invest some time in school because I missed some days because of training and competition. As well now it’s time to make more plans for the upcoming season, which I am already looking forward a lot.

I have some nice links for you as well, first a big thank you to my Friend Michael Reber, which made the news there in a funny way. All his clips on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/MRPFILMS

You also can find full races on Youtube here are they:

1000m B-Final 36’23“: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boYVbhuXMZA

1000m Semifinal: 2h 38’54“: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuwP0qd_PhY

5000m Final: 3h 09’41“: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pnfx4XSaJvY

Results:

K1 Men 1000m

1. Josef Dostal CZE 3:25.092

2. Miroslav Kirchev BUL 3:26.409

3. René Holten Poulsen DEN 3:26.482

13. (Place 4 in Final B) Fabio Wyss SUI 3:30.724

K1 Men 5000m

1. Ken Wallace AUS 20:12.981

2. Max Hoff GER 20:14.004

3. Cyrille Carré FRA 20:14.562

20. Fabio Wyss SUI 22:34.529

Erstmals wünsche ich allen Leser ein gutes neues Jahr. Wie so oft liegt einige Zeit seit dem letzten Eintrag. Neben Trainingslager in Rapperswil, Tenero und Milfontes Portugal, bestritt ich auch drei Kanu-Marathons in Italien, Tschechien und in Portugal im Trainingslager. Die Trainingslager liefen eigentlich alle gut bis auf Portugal. Ich musste notfallmässig zum Zahnarzt und aufgrund einer Entzündung Antibiotika einnehmen. Ich konnte danach recht gut trainieren und gewann sogar den Trainingsmarathon von 30km. Nach einer Woche Einnahme reagierte ich aber allergisch auf das Medikament und musste einige Tage aussetzen. Dies war echt schade, weil zum Trainieren war Milfontes absolut erstklassig. Ein Ort den ich auf jeden Fall gerne wieder besuchen will. Es geht nun wieder besser und ich bin meine Physis wieder am aufbauen.

An Land geschieht ebenfalls viel, so bin ich bei der Privatschule AKAD in Zürich an der Berufsmatura dran. Ist lange her wo ich das letzte Mal die Schulbank drückte und meine Lernmoral war damals glaube ich noch besser. Seit heute bin ich stolzer Fahrer einer Ford Mondeo Limousine. Dies ist mein erstes Auto, auch wenn es nicht mir gehört sondern der Gabriel Garage Ennetbürgen. Für dieses Sponsoring möchte ich mich ganz herzlich bedanken. Die vier Räder erleichtern mir Einiges, so kann ich welligen Seen ausweichen oder spontan ein Langlauftraining absolvieren etc. Mit so guten News kann es natürlich in 2014 weitergehen. Schon bald beginnen wieder die nächsten Trainingslager!

First I want to wish everybody all the best in the new year. It’s been a while when I last wrote a blog. In this time I was at training camps in Rapperswil, Tenero and Milfontes Portugal and was paddling marathons in Czech Republic, Italy and in the training camp in Portugal. I was quite satisfied with all the training camps, expect the one in Milfontes where I was pretty unlucky. I needed to go the dentist and then I had to take some Antibiotica. First I didn’t feel a lot of the medicine, I even won a 30km training race. But after a week of taking it I had some allergic reactions and must to skip some sessions. It was a pity because I liked it there a lot, we had nearly always good conditions for training. I really want to go back again there. Now I feel again better and I am giving everything for come back to the level that I had in Portugal.

On land I am also busy. Since summer I going again to school at the AKAD in Zurich. It’s been a while when I was last sitting inside of a classroom. Since today I drive my „own“ car. It’s a Ford Mondeo Limousine and I am quite proud of it 🙂 It’s a sponsorship from the local Ford Garage Gabriel, Ennetbürgen. For me it is a big help, if it’s wavy I can hide from the big lakes to some smaller lakes and in the winter I can organise easier some Cross-Country Ski sessions. With good news like that it can go further. Soon I go again in some training camps where I try to do get ready for the 2014 racing year!

Milfontes 30km race