MADRID, 9 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish canoeist Pablo Crespo will have to wait for the reallocation of places to find out if he can be in the Paris Olympic Games next summer in the C1 1000 m distance, where he finished third in the Pre-Olympic final that is being held in Szeged ( Hungary).
After Begoña Lazcano and Laia Pélachs failed to qualify for the event in the Parisian capital on Wednesday, this Thursday it was Crespo’s turn, who qualified directly for the final in the morning by finishing third in his series after Russia and Ukraine.
In the afternoon final, the Pontevedra paddler was in second place after the first 500 meters, but he could not maintain that position and finished third, 89 hundredths behind second place. Now, according to the Royal Spanish Canoeing Federation, Crespo is waiting for Russia, previously classified in C2 500, to give up its place in C1 1000.
If that happens, Spanish canoeing would be in nine of the ten Olympic modalities in Paris, in the case of the C1 1000 for the first time since the 2012 London Games, where David Cal closed his record with his fifth medal, a silver.
“It has been an incredible regatta, it has gone very well, better than expected and now we are waiting, but whether or not I finish in classification, it has been a ‘race’, one of the best I have done,” said the Galician in statements provided by the RFEP.
Crespo recalled that everything is in the hands of Russia, which has classified a second C2 500 and also a C1 1000 and that “it must decide.” “Logically we can expect a few things, but until it’s official we can’t say anything. It’s close, I can touch it and I hope everything turns out well,” he added.
On the other hand, in the Paracanoe World Championship there was no good news and neither Javier Reja nor Úrsula Pueyo were able to qualify for the Paris Games in KL2 and VL3 respectively. Both reached the semifinals, but there they could not sneak into the final where they had to win gold to achieve the Paralympic ticket.