What a day for Poland. We have our third World Championship medal!
Viktor Glazunov became the world champion in kayaking in the C-1 5000 meters competition. He thus joined two colleagues who had previously won medals.
Sunday turned out to be a phenomenal day for Poland. First, Jakub Stepun (silver) and Oleksii Koliadych (gold) took the medals in quick succession, and at the very end of the World Canoeing Championships in the C-1 5000 meters competition, Viktor Glazunov was the undisputed best!
Glazunov made up for his earlier performance
Interestingly, Glazunov also competed in the 500 meters on Sunday. He came sixth, with Sławomir Witczak fourth. Glazunov later rested a bit and showed his strength in the C-1 5000 meters. He reached the finish line with a huge advantage over his rivals. He beat the second Moldovan Serghei Tarnovschi by almost 16 seconds. The third was Hungarian Adolf Balazs.
Glazunov clearly envied Stepun and Kolyadych. Let us recall that the former won silver in the 200-meter kayak sprint. He almost won gold. He lost to the Portuguese Messias Baptista by a mere 0.07 seconds. The third place went to the Spaniard Carlos Garotte.
The gold medal went to Koliadych, who regained his championship title from two years ago. He triumphed confidently in the C-1 200 m competition. He beat the second Spaniard Pablo Grana by 0.42 seconds. Third place went to Georgian Zaza Nadiradze. This is Koliadych’s third World Championship medal in a row.
Consolation after the Paris Olympics
This year, due to the Olympic Games in Paris, the Canoe Sprint World Championships were held in competitions that are not included in the quadrennial event.
Poland ends the World Championship with three medals. On Sunday, the white and reds gave us a lot of joy. And this is certainly a consolation after what we saw in the capital of France, where Polish kayaks did not win any medals at the Olympic Games.
