ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships: Joao Ribeiro and Messias Baptista secure K-2 500 title
Portuguese kayaker Joao Ribeiro reclaims the K-2 500 title Messias Baptista a decade after his first win. Defending champions Bence Nadas and Balint Kopasz of Hungary had to settle for second place on the third day of the global event.
Portuguese kayaker Joao Ribeiro had to wait a decade to reclaim the men’s K-2 500 title at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Duisburg, Germany on Sunday (27 August).
Ribeiro first won the K-2 500 gold medal at the same venue and had to settle for three silver medals in the decade since.
Ribeiro and crewmate Messias Baptista won a close contest against defending champions Bence Nadas and Balint Kopasz of Hungary. Kopasz, the Olympic champion in the K-1 1000 and Nadas finished just 0.147s behind the Portuguese.
The two crews were neck and neck at the halfway point with Ribeiro and Baptista leading by just 0.01s. And thery managed to fight off the challenge from the defending champions with Ribeiro rolling back the years to return to the top of the podium.
London 2012 Olympic champion Peter Kretschmer of Germany and Tim Hecker powered their way to the top of the podium in the men’s C2 500 final.
The German duo were embroiled in an early arm wrestle with the Romanians, the French, and defending champions Cayetano Garcia and Pablo Martinez before they pulled away to cross the line in 1:36.972.
Liu Hao and Ji Bowen of the People’s Republic of China surged over the second half of the race finishing second to upgrade their bronze from last year to silver with a time of 1:38.126. The Spaniards followed shortly behind them settling for third place in 1:38.571.
In the women’s K2 500 Emma Aastrand Jorgensen and Frederikke Hauge Matthiesen of Denmark edged out defending champions Poland to claim the title in 1:39.856. Three-time Olympic medallist Jorgensen won her third world title with Matthiesen earning her maiden gold at the championships.
The Polish crew of Martyna Klatt and Helena Wisniewska followed nearly a second behind them in 1:40.824. Last year’s runners-up, Paulina Paszek and Jule Hake of Germany were relegated to third place with 1:41.597.