Spain knocks on the door of the medals after the first day of the Olympic Sprint World Championship

MADRID, 3 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Spanish canoeing delegation achieved this Wednesday a total of six direct classifications for the finals of the Olympic sprint World Championship, which is being held at Banook Lake in Halifax (Canada), after a first day full of successes.

The first to certify his presence in the final was Sete Benavides in the C1 200 category. He had to enter the top three and only the Polish Oleksii Koliadych was faster than him by 0.20 seconds. Then it was Paracanoe’s turn and Juan Valle, in KL3 200, managed to win the test, which will allow him to skip the semifinal round and go straight to the final on Friday, August 5.

For its part, the quartet formed by Sara Ouzande, Carolina García, Laia Pelachs and Teresa Portela finished second in the K-4 500, more than 2 seconds behind the Polish boat, but that position allows them to enter the final of a direct mode; while the male quartet made up of Saúl Craviotto, Carlos Arévalo, Marcus Cooper and Rodrigo Germade won their series with great authority.

The fifth direct ticket to the final was signed by Cayetano García and Pablo Martínez, who won their sleeve after a great comeback against the Chinese boat. Those who were gold in the Race World Cup, went from less to more and ended up ahead of the Chinese in 0.78 seconds.

In addition, in the women’s K2 200, the Sara Ouzande-Teresa Portela couple once again signed a magnificent performance to win their race and achieve direct ticket to the final. Those who were not so lucky were María Moreno and María Prats, seventh in the C2 500, who will have to contest the semifinals.

In addition, Isabel Contreras, in the K1 500, agreed to the ‘semis’ after being third, in the same way as Marcus Cooper, who did not have any trouble in the K1 500, where there was no option to enter the final directly. With serenity, the Spaniard who finished second, only surpassed by the Swedish representative.

The last two tests in which there was Spanish participation were in the C1 500 and in the K1 1000, both in the men’s category. In the first, Manuel Fontán was fifth in his series, which will lead him to fight for a place in the final in Saturday’s semifinals, while Cubelos finished third in his series in a test in which there was no possibility of reaching the final directly.