Canoe: Finals / 2023 ICF Canoe-Kayak Slalom World Championships & Olympic Qualifier Lee Valley UK

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2023 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships & Olympic Qualifier
19–24 September Lee Valley, London, United Kingdom ️
https://planet.canoeicf.com/2023SlalomWorldsLeeValley

Transcript

00:00:00 [beep]

00:00:02 [music]

00:00:29 Hello everybody. Wow.

00:00:31 I hope you're strapped in. I hope you're somewhere comfortable

00:00:34 because we are about to take you on a ride.

00:00:36 It is going to be the ride of your life

00:00:39 as we fight towards the crowning of a world champion

00:00:44 in the men's and the women's canoe.

00:00:46 Hello, my name is Ross Solle.

00:00:47 This is the 2023 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships.

00:00:52 It's also Olympic qualification.

00:00:55 A lot of that has been done and dusted already.

00:00:57 More of that in just a moment, but at the moment we are in the race

00:01:01 to crown our world champions.

00:01:03 Here with me in the commentary box is Canada's Lois Bettridge.

00:01:07 Lois, a little bit of cloud out there now,

00:01:09 but the conditions are pretty perfect for what should be a grouping final.

00:01:12 Yes. Good afternoon, Ross.

00:01:14 It definitely started out the day a bit clearer than this.

00:01:18 Hopefully this doesn't bring too much wind,

00:01:20 but it's certainly nothing compared to the qualifications day.

00:01:23 You see a flag blowing a little bit there,

00:01:26 but two metres per second is manageable.

00:01:29 It's nothing compared to the 40 or so that we had the other day,

00:01:32 which was incredibly challenging.

00:01:34 So we have in just a moment the start of the women's C1 final,

00:01:39 where we will crown a world champion in just a moment.

00:01:42 I did mention this is also Olympic qualification today,

00:01:45 and we had some fantastic, exciting racing early this morning,

00:01:50 some interesting outcomes from the qualifications,

00:01:54 some interesting countries who lined up for potential quotas for next year.

00:02:01 But before we do all of that,

00:02:03 let's have a quick look here at our medal table from our world championships.

00:02:06 This is from the teams event earlier this week.

00:02:09 We crowned four medalists on the Tuesday, I think it was.

00:02:14 So look at that, six countries, seven countries already sharing the medals.

00:02:19 Yes, and I think maybe the only teams medalist that's in this final

00:02:23 is Jessica Fox from Australia.

00:02:27 So Andrea Herzog there, she unfortunately is not in the final.

00:02:31 She cannot defend her crown.

00:02:33 She was eliminated this morning.

00:02:35 She got a 50 second penalty for missing a gate.

00:02:38 Absolute heartbreak for Andrea Herzog from Germany.

00:02:42 Yeah, it was quite the semi-finals race we saw this morning.

00:02:45 A lot of upsets, I would say, in the start list for the final.

00:02:51 And we saw a lot of problems for a lot of the paddlers earlier in the course.

00:02:55 Hopefully they've got that out of the system now for the final.

00:02:58 It's a quality field, a quality field of 10.

00:03:01 There you go. The Olympic champion is Jessica Fox.

00:03:04 We will see her in action in just a moment.

00:03:06 The world champion Andrea Herzog, unfortunately, will not be defending her crown.

00:03:12 But there is another German who will, I'm sure,

00:03:14 take the opportunity to give it a really good shake.

00:03:18 Now, Ellen and Lily, a couple of Brits as well.

00:03:20 There we go. Let's have a look at the starting lineup for our final.

00:03:23 We have Anna Satila from Brazil, Marjorie Delassus from France,

00:03:26 Susanna Pankova from Slovakia, Malorie Franklin from GB,

00:03:31 Eleanor Lillig from Germany, Gabi Satkova from the Czech Republic,

00:03:34 Kimberly Woods from GB, Jessica Fox, Evie Liebfahrt from the United States,

00:03:39 and Monika Doria-Villarubla. She was our fastest qualifier.

00:03:42 That's right. She had a very, very nice run.

00:03:44 She did take a touch at the beginning of her semi-final run,

00:03:47 but held it together.

00:03:51 Actually, Evie had a faster time than her raw time.

00:03:56 Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no. My bad. Sorry.

00:04:00 No, Doria-Villarubla had a raw time of a 1.09.

00:04:03 Absolutely, yeah. She blitzed it three seconds faster than the next raw time.

00:04:08 Yeah. So what I particularly like about this nice spread of young paddlers here,

00:04:13 the future of our sport, when you look down at the likes of Susanna Pankova,

00:04:18 Evie Liebfahrt, Monika Doria-Villarubla, Satkova is still pretty young.

00:04:23 Yeah. I mean, it's exciting, isn't it, to see these young athletes

00:04:27 who are knocking on the door.

00:04:28 Yeah. That being said, I don't think any of the "older" athletes are really that old.

00:04:32 No.

00:04:33 It's a pretty young field still. It's very experienced, but still pretty young.

00:04:37 I mean, you look at Anna Satyla there, 27 years of age.

00:04:40 She's been to three Olympics, as I mentioned earlier this morning.

00:04:44 She made her Olympic debut on this very course in 2012.

00:04:49 She was just a teenager. She was wide-eyed and I think blown away by the occasion at that time.

00:04:55 She's been to two Olympics since, and she would dearly love to--

00:04:59 And she's likely qualified for that next one.

00:05:02 Yes. As we mentioned, the top 12 countries got quotas today, and Brazil is up there.

00:05:07 Every country represented in this final that we're bringing you right now

00:05:12 has a quota lined up for Paris next year.

00:05:14 So there's a bit of pressure come off now, Lois, as they head into the final,

00:05:17 and we have our first paddler on the course.

00:05:19 I suspect we're going to see some very, very fast paddling from these women,

00:05:23 knowing that they've got their Olympic qualifiers out of the way.

00:05:27 They're just going for that World Championship title,

00:05:30 and I think-- not that that's not pressure,

00:05:33 but I feel like there's a little bit of a difference in the pressure.

00:05:36 They now know that no matter what happens,

00:05:39 they have got their country a ticket on the plane to Paris next year,

00:05:42 or the train, if whatever the case may be.

00:05:45 So Anna Satylla is on the course at the moment.

00:05:47 The time set by Monica Doria Villarugla in the heats this morning, a raw time of 1.09.01.

00:05:57 So you would suspect-- in fact, you'd not suspect, you would know, I think, to win the gold.

00:06:03 That was a tight gate there for Anna.

00:06:06 To win the gold medal, you're going to have to go under 1.10, I would suspect, Lois.

00:06:12 Yeah, I don't doubt that.

00:06:13 I think that this final is going to go faster than the semifinal,

00:06:17 and I think it's going to be consistently fast.

00:06:19 I think we're going to see each athlete just taking that first place,

00:06:23 but you never really know with racing, right?

00:06:25 That's what keeps it exciting.

00:06:27 No, and we are-- whatever happens, we are going to crown a new world champion this afternoon

00:06:32 because the reigning world champion is not here.

00:06:35 So we will crown a new world champion.

00:06:37 Will it be somebody who's been on the top of the podium before,

00:06:40 or will we have a first-time world champion?

00:06:44 And there's a bit of a good history, Lois, for athletes that have become a world champion

00:06:48 in their lead-up to an Olympic Games.

00:06:50 There's been some good strong follow-up results.

00:06:53 Totally.

00:06:54 This season, everybody's been in top shape.

00:06:59 Anna celebrating there, a smile.

00:07:02 1.15, it's--

00:07:04 Not a bad time.

00:07:05 We'll see if it holds for a podium, but I think she's just happy that her run went without anything worse.

00:07:14 Well, you and I have been sitting here doing a lot of commentary this year, Lois,

00:07:17 and what we have seen is being the first on the course can sometimes be a good thing

00:07:21 because you set the time and everybody else has to beat that time,

00:07:24 and we've seen some ridiculous times win medals this year.

00:07:27 I don't mean that disparagingly to any of the athletes.

00:07:29 We've been shocked, for sure.

00:07:31 Yeah, there's a lot of pressure when you look up there and you see the time to beat is 1.15,

00:07:36 which should be, if we look at the top ten qualifiers--

00:07:42 It's the same time as she--actually, she went two seconds faster than her semifinals time

00:07:50 because she took a touch in this final.

00:07:52 Took a touch in this final, and she was clean in the semi.

00:07:55 You can see the crowd there enjoying the unseasonably sunny afternoon,

00:08:00 despite the clouds, the sun still poking through.

00:08:02 So Marjorie DelaSouce now is on the course, the French paddler, fourth at the Tokyo Olympics.

00:08:08 She's the 2019 European under-23 champion and would dearly love to put down a fast time here early on

00:08:16 in her quest to become a world champion for the very first time,

00:08:19 and wouldn't it be a great time to do it in the lead-up to her home Olympics in Paris next year.

00:08:25 She's been paddling well.

00:08:26 Oh, I think that's a 50.

00:08:28 Yeah, Marjorie had a bit of trouble in these first few gates in her semis run,

00:08:33 and she managed to recoup the mistakes she'd made at the top on her semis run,

00:08:40 but unfortunately, I think that one was a little bit far away.

00:08:43 And now she's in trouble again in that.

00:08:45 So for those who are watching for the first time, if you miss the gate completely,

00:08:50 and by missing it means that you haven't had your whole head and part of your boat go through the gates,

00:08:56 if you cannot manage to do that, then you'll get a 50-second penalty.

00:08:59 Yeah, and we see that one confirmed for Mouch.

00:09:02 Yeah, a touch of the gate is a two-second penalty.

00:09:05 Now, you can still win with a two-second penalty.

00:09:08 You cannot win with a 50-second penalty.

00:09:10 No, that's right.

00:09:11 And I'm not sure that we're going to see anybody winning this race with a two-second penalty,

00:09:15 but we'll see what comes of the racing in the rest of this final.

00:09:19 But I have a sneaking suspicion that it's going to be a clean run at the top of the podium.

00:09:25 There are a couple of athletes in this field who could get away with a touch and still win,

00:09:29 but you don't really want to do it.

00:09:31 Oh, there's another 50 there, I think.

00:09:33 Just cutting the lines too close here now.

00:09:35 Yeah, I've given her a two because she did brush it, but I know that they were viewing it.

00:09:40 They were back on review there.

00:09:42 Unfortunately for Marjorie de Lesseuse from France,

00:09:45 there was not going to be at the top of the podium, not even on the podium at all.

00:09:50 No, that's a tough day at the office for the final.

00:09:53 But she will have the satisfaction of knowing that she's earned that quota for France for next year.

00:10:00 Now it's just a case of making sure that she is the athlete to represent France.

00:10:04 A lot of the countries, in fact nearly all of them, go away from here,

00:10:08 having earned the quota that they then have the difficult task of determining who is going to represent them.

00:10:13 Oh, and look at that.

00:10:15 So you can see at home, folks, that there's no way that Marjorie had her whole head between the gates there.

00:10:21 Yeah, that was unfortunate for her.

00:10:24 And there's the second one where you see she did touch it with her helmet,

00:10:28 but her chin wasn't quite underneath that.

00:10:31 So unfortunately there for Marjorie, two 50 second penalties.

00:10:36 And that is a tough day out for her.

00:10:41 But she will live to fight another day.

00:10:44 Marjorie DelaSuez. She did have a pretty fast time.

00:10:47 Her raw time is, yeah, yeah, not too bad.

00:10:51 But a lot of a lot of problems there for her on her run.

00:10:54 Now, one of the youngsters, just 18 years of old, 18 years of age, sorry,

00:10:59 Susana Pankova from Slovakia.

00:11:01 She's a 2022 junior world champion and she's also a former junior European champion.

00:11:06 And she was fifth at the European Games this year.

00:11:08 So this is one of the stars of the future.

00:11:11 There is absolutely no doubt about that.

00:11:13 Every time she comes out onto the water, she she is exciting.

00:11:17 Absolutely. What a great, very dynamic paddler.

00:11:19 We'll see here. Whoa.

00:11:21 Look at that switch where she was able to keep the boat steady, opting for a spin option here just to be safe and not miss the gate here.

00:11:28 She's right in the middle of gate seven. Unlike DelaSuez from France, we just saw.

00:11:33 It's definitely it's a strategic move to go safe in a move like that, Ross,

00:11:38 but it can pay off in the end if you don't have a 50 second penalty.

00:11:42 So at this stage, we have an error free run from Susana Pankova from Slovakia.

00:11:49 Catching that wave nicely, surfing into the up nice and high and keeping the boat running.

00:11:53 Little bits like that keep you. Oh, just as I said it.

00:11:58 Yep. Commentator's curse kicks in again. A two second penalty there.

00:12:01 Unfortunately, you saw there Susana Pankova.

00:12:03 She did brush the gate as she went through.

00:12:06 So the judges have no hesitation to give her a two second penalty.

00:12:09 We have judges lining the banks of the water here.

00:12:12 So they are with a bird's eye view of what happens.

00:12:16 And then we have cameras covering nearly every possible angle of each gate.

00:12:21 And in ground control, we have a team of eagle eyed judges who pore over all the vision just to make sure that every call is correct.

00:12:31 Because taking another touch there, I think on that upstream, just with her paddle when she was switching.

00:12:36 Yeah. So unfortunately not.

00:12:40 So, yeah, so everything is scrutinized to the nth degree.

00:12:46 And of course, mistakes do get made because it is hard to cover every angle.

00:12:50 And sometimes it can be very close. But where possible, we try as best as we can to ensure that everything is OK.

00:12:59 So Pankova moves into second there with her two touches.

00:13:03 Giving the crowd a little wave, but you could see as she crossed the line, I don't think she thinks that's enough to medal here.

00:13:10 No, not with the quality of the athlete. We still have to come.

00:13:14 She started off nicely at the top of the course, but yeah, it fell away in the bottom half.

00:13:21 She got a touch on gate 12 and 16 and 19. So three touches. That's a lot.

00:13:28 Yeah, it's just maybe one touch is OK.

00:13:32 But once you get into two and three, six seconds of penalties, just it's an unmanageable gap.

00:13:41 So we are about to have the first of the Brits on the course and you can guarantee the crowd will be getting right behind Mallory Franklin,

00:13:51 the Olympic silver medalist. There they are, the two leaders at the moment.

00:13:56 Marjorie looking not that happy with the way of the world right now.

00:14:00 Tough spot to be with the cameras on you, knowing you have to put a smile on your face.

00:14:04 Here we have Mallory Franklin at the top of the course. Gates one and two, managing them cleanly.

00:14:10 Looks she I felt like she was paddling very safe in the semifinal and we'll see if she can put a little bit more speed on her boat for this final.

00:14:17 So Mallory Franklin, the silver medalist from the Tokyo Olympics, she was a world champion in the C1 back in 2017.

00:14:24 That same year, she was also an under 23 world champion.

00:14:28 It really was an incredible year for this tall British paddler.

00:14:31 And she's out now and she's going fast. Very nicely there through Gates five, six, seven.

00:14:37 We've seen definitely a few athletes struggle with earlier today and even earlier this afternoon.

00:14:44 So good for Mallory here. Also very smooth and clean and fast into that up left in the middle main wave.

00:14:53 So we have good crowd along the banks here that come out today in the sunshine to cheer on the British paddlers.

00:14:58 It really is a festival here. It's a carnival atmosphere. We have a live band playing.

00:15:03 We have a real world championship feel to it and you can hear them now getting behind.

00:15:08 Absolutely. They'll be loving to see these green numbers just ticking off every intermediary.

00:15:13 It's been a very measured run here for Mallory Franklin. She's in control and nice move there.

00:15:19 Nice move through the S's there. She's going to lay down.

00:15:23 Look at that split. She's really meaning business here, Mallory Franklin.

00:15:27 She would love to be a world champion in front of her home crowd. She needs to finish it off for her.

00:15:32 There's no doubt that she's paddling here for a gold medal.

00:15:35 Oh, and getting caught in that last, that whole wave crossing is critical.

00:15:41 And she did get stuck up there a little bit in that hole. I think she's going to go into the lead.

00:15:47 Going to go into the lead, but I'm not sure. I think that it's not an error of green bar.

00:15:52 Let's see her reaction. She, yeah, it's not one of elation.

00:15:58 She knows that she's left the door open there for anyone else to come through.

00:16:02 As Lois called, she got stuck in that cross there and spent forever trying to get out.

00:16:07 You can see how spent she is. She had to use a lot of effort to get out of there.

00:16:12 But she's sitting in the number one position at the moment, Lois, and that's where you want to be, isn't it?

00:16:17 You'd rather be sitting there than sitting fourth right now.

00:16:19 A 108.05 is the new time of reference, and I think it's a very respectable time.

00:16:25 We'll see. You know, pressure is high. This is the World Championships.

00:16:29 We'll see what the other women are able to pull together today.

00:16:32 108 is quicker than any time in the semifinal. Absolutely.

00:16:36 Nobody went to 108. The best time, the best raw time was 109.

00:16:39 So she's already gone faster than the semifinal.

00:16:42 But I just feel we've got a couple of athletes here who can, and this is one of them on the screen right now.

00:16:48 Look at the focus in those eyes. Yeah, that is, that should be a good poker player.

00:16:52 She wouldn't like, she'd just scare you out of laying a bet just by looking at you with that steely glare.

00:16:59 But here she goes. She's on the water now. Elena Lilic from Germany, 2021 World Champion.

00:17:05 She won gold in Taksim this year. She's also the reigning European champion.

00:17:09 How about that perform to bring into a World Championship final?

00:17:12 And she's underway and looking smooth. Yeah, she she has quite the quite the resume so far.

00:17:18 I think she she's vying for this Olympic qualifier gold medal, though.

00:17:23 I think there's a special maybe a little bit of a special feeling if you if you win the race that everybody's trying to win.

00:17:30 I've got a feeling. Don't quote me on this, but I've got a feeling that for German Olympic selection,

00:17:35 if you finish on the podium at a World Championships, you get a lot of extra points.

00:17:40 And the fact that Andrea Herzog, who is her main rival for that German Olympic spot,

00:17:45 is not in the final that has left this door wide open for her to make a big statement today.

00:17:49 Yeah, very interesting. We will also see Elena in the semifinals tomorrow for kayak.

00:17:54 One of quite a number of the women here competing in both categories.

00:17:58 It was a touch which she'd be really annoyed about because she she was in a position where she didn't need to do that.

00:18:04 But you never are. No, she I suspect she's never really thrilled by a touch.

00:18:09 But I think this one specifically is going to put her quite far back on that next split time.

00:18:15 We're going to see shortly. But don't forget, Mallory Franklin should be fast through.

00:18:20 She was fast through this part of the course, but then she got into trouble at the bottom and took a bit of time.

00:18:25 So there is some time to be made up at the bottom of the course, but not seven seconds.

00:18:28 Not seconds. Seven seconds left in that little cross that Mallory did.

00:18:32 So let's see what Elena Lilly can pull out here.

00:18:35 She needs to be absolutely perfect through here to give herself a shot.

00:18:39 This is where Mallory got into trouble across here. Lilly much smoother through there,

00:18:43 but it's not enough, I don't think, to to move her into the lead.

00:18:47 She's going to have to settle for second position at the moment.

00:18:49 Eleanor Lilly from Germany. And Lilly confirmed moves into second position.

00:18:56 Five seconds behind Mallory Franklin from Great Britain.

00:19:01 I'm starting to think that 108 for Franklin is that's that's middle territory, isn't it?

00:19:07 Yeah, I think that was it. That was a very, very, very fast.

00:19:11 Well, I mean, it was a phenomenal run until that last move.

00:19:14 So you never know. But I tend to agree with you on that one.

00:19:21 So we are at the halfway stage of the final. We've had five athletes on the water.

00:19:27 We have five athletes to come, five athletes to come, and they are quality.

00:19:32 Satkova, Woods, Fox, Liebfart, Doria Villarugla. This race is wide open.

00:19:38 And in a moment, we're going to hear from our current race leader,

00:19:42 who is Mallory Franklin, the reigning Olympic silver medalist.

00:19:45 She's sitting in pole position right now in this women's C1 final.

00:19:50 Let's hear what Mallory thinks of her run and what her chances are of a medal.

00:19:54 Really good job. That was an amazing run. How are you feeling?

00:19:58 Yeah, really good. It wasn't. There's definitely time in it in places,

00:20:01 but we had to hold it together on this course and it being quite tough.

00:20:05 Sorry. Yeah, no, I'm really pleased with the run and keeping it clean and keeping it fluid.

00:20:10 Hopefully it'll be enough. But who knows?

00:20:12 I mean, you got the Olympic quota now and that was a good run.

00:20:16 You think it'll be good enough for a final for a medal? Sorry.

00:20:19 I hope so. But who knows? I think that there's some really good girls left to go.

00:20:23 And there was definitely time in my run. So we'll see what happens.

00:20:26 But it was a really fun run and I really enjoyed having all the crowds.

00:20:29 So well, congrats. Thank you.

00:20:33 Yeah, the crowd appreciating the shout out from Mallory Franklin, their hometown girl,

00:20:38 who's sitting at the top of the leaderboard right now, as she mentioned, though,

00:20:42 Lois, there's some good athletes to come. Yeah, and diplomatic interview.

00:20:46 Yeah. And she knows, even though her time was fast and much faster than the semifinal,

00:20:52 she knows that that she could have gone faster and she'd lost some time.

00:20:55 And there are athletes still to come who will gobble that up.

00:20:59 Yeah, I think it's hard. It's hard to feel confident in a run that, you know,

00:21:03 wasn't perfect when you have the likes of the next five women that are about to start.

00:21:09 Every single one of these paddlers is just so accomplished.

00:21:14 And really, any of them could pull out a winning run today.

00:21:16 So here we have Gabi Sackova from Czech Republic about to start.

00:21:23 I believe in 2021, she was in this. She was third.

00:21:28 She won a bronze medal in the twenty twenty one world championship.

00:21:31 She's also a two time junior world champion.

00:21:35 And as I mentioned in the semifinal, she does a lot of wild water paddling as well.

00:21:39 So just loves being in the rough water. And this is this is made for her today.

00:21:44 She could really come out now, pin her ears back and do something pretty special.

00:21:47 Yeah, the big white water in this course in the valley is definitely something she's not.

00:21:51 Oh, not afraid of. Look at her. That was definitely not her race plan to take a pause there.

00:21:56 But she so far is making it work. And you see the boat control of this paddler.

00:22:00 Absolutely phenomenal. So one point eight down at this stage.

00:22:06 But just we need to remind you that at the bottom of the course is where Mallory Franklin lost a bit of time.

00:22:12 So it doesn't really matter if you're a little bit behind the speed at this stage,

00:22:16 because there is time to be made up at the bottom of the course.

00:22:19 But she's dropping back a little bit now.

00:22:22 She's going to do everything absolutely perfect from here on in to knock Mallory Franklin off the top of the leaderboard.

00:22:28 Yeah, so far quite a smooth run. But Mallory was just so precise at the top of this course.

00:22:34 And I think it shows the British paddlers how much time they spend on this course.

00:22:37 They know where to get all of the little accelerations, all of the little waves that will give you a little bit of a boost

00:22:44 without costing you too much energy. And we see Gab taking a touch there.

00:22:48 Yeah, you think that would be no matter what. Oh, and there's a 50.

00:22:51 Yeah, unfortunately for Gabby Satkova, that is undoubtedly a 50 second penalty. Wow.

00:22:57 I mean, that's the pressure. That is the absolute pressure.

00:23:00 She knew she had to make up some time somewhere, and that means taking risks.

00:23:03 And when you take risks, if it comes off, it looks fantastic and you can get something pretty special.

00:23:09 But unfortunately for Gabby Satkova, she's had to pay the price today.

00:23:13 That's very disappointing for her. The World Championships come around only once a year,

00:23:19 and this is going to be a pretty heartbreaking run for her, I think.

00:23:24 I mean, some good stuff in it for sure.

00:23:27 So if we look at that, yeah, her raw time was 54 seconds in penalty, so that she would have been a 1.11,

00:23:38 which is around about the time from this morning for Monika Doria-Velarugla.

00:23:44 So disappointing there. You can see here she's nowhere near it.

00:23:48 Unfortunately, the boat didn't go anywhere near it. So don't worry about the head.

00:23:52 Some of the boats got to go through the gate. None of it did.

00:23:55 Yeah. And I think also...

00:23:58 The whole head didn't go through.

00:23:59 Yeah, she didn't get her chin in that.

00:24:01 She knew it. I think she knew it. When she would have come up there, she would have thought,

00:24:04 "Well, maybe the judges were having a kip and I managed to sneak one past them."

00:24:08 But you couldn't sneak one past the commentary team. We're on to that, Lois.

00:24:12 Ego-eyed.

00:24:13 Yeah, that's exactly right. So, six down, four to go.

00:24:18 In a moment, we're going to be able to start calling numbers. We're going to start calling medals.

00:24:26 Mallory Franklin looking very close to a medal right now.

00:24:29 Only... Well, another hometown hero or home nation hero.

00:24:35 About to just... Well, started.

00:24:38 We're almost in a situation where we can call a British medal.

00:24:42 Not yet, though. Not yet, because Kimberley Woods is on the course

00:24:46 and there's three more paddlers after Kimberley.

00:24:48 But listen to the crowd again. They're back on their feet there.

00:24:51 Ooh, that's tough getting out of there sometimes.

00:24:54 Kimberley, though, clean at this stage. She loves this course.

00:24:57 She spends a lot of time here. And look at her split time. That's pretty useful.

00:25:01 Yeah. I think it's just... It is one of those things, watching the British paddlers here,

00:25:07 where they just... They seem to improve on each other every single time that one of them goes down.

00:25:13 That was nice.

00:25:14 That was a very nice cross.

00:25:15 So useful to be up on the split at the top of the course

00:25:18 because she's got time to make up at the bottom of the course

00:25:20 and she's still ahead of her teammates' time.

00:25:23 So this is developing into something pretty special for Kimberley Woods.

00:25:27 You can hear the British fans now.

00:25:28 They realise that something special is unfolding right before their eyes.

00:25:32 And can Kimberley Woods from Rugby Great Britain get herself into a medal-winning position?

00:25:40 So far, she's staying clean, which is going to be very critical to be on the top of that podium.

00:25:46 She did opt for a spin option earlier up there, and it was very fast.

00:25:49 She didn't lose any time, and it allowed her to stay middle of the gates, clean.

00:25:55 We'll see how she manages the last offset here. The waves are very challenging.

00:26:01 This is the move here. This is the move here where Mallory Franklin lost time.

00:26:05 How will Kimberley Woods go?

00:26:07 Pretty good. That's good. This is going to be tight.

00:26:10 This is going to be very tight. The time of Mallory Franklin is a 1.08.05.

00:26:15 I think we're going to have a new race leader, folks.

00:26:17 Kimberley Woods is going to go into the lead. Great Britain stand up.

00:26:20 And oh, no! What's happened there?

00:26:23 Wow, 1.08.47, just behind Mallory Franklin.

00:26:28 A very good run. Yeah, I think she lost just a little bit of time in that final sprint.

00:26:34 I think her boat wasn't quite as straight down the river as it could have been,

00:26:38 and she was working a little cross current, and just 0.42 of a second slipping away from her.

00:26:45 Oh, wow. That is sea to your pants stuff. I thought she had that time.

00:26:50 Yeah. But just losing a little bit on that last sprint to the finish line.

00:26:54 When she goes back and watches the tape, she'll think, "Oh, if only. If only. Coulda, woulda, shoulda."

00:27:00 Yeah. Oh, you can see there. I think she's still pretty happy with that run.

00:27:05 I think the Brits know what a good run is on Lee Valley, and I think that was a good run.

00:27:09 So two Brits at the moment sitting in middle positions, but we have three paddlers to go.

00:27:15 And one of them just happens to be the Olympic champion.

00:27:19 If you missed the semifinal this morning, Jess Fox missed a gate, had to paddle back and do the gate again,

00:27:26 but still managed to get through in the third fastest time. So we know that she has time to pick up.

00:27:32 That's right. And I think Jess, when she's playing it safe, is a great paddler.

00:27:38 But when she's going for that gold, there is something special about the way she paddles.

00:27:43 It's been a long time. Oh, she nearly dropped her paddle there.

00:27:47 You see, in her switch, her T-grip was just a little bit out of where she expected it to be,

00:27:52 and she saved it quickly. You could barely tell, but she did have a little wobble.

00:27:57 She's got a gate touch as well, so she's going to have to be really at her very, very best.

00:28:02 Jess Fox, she is the Olympic champion. She's a four-time world champion.

00:28:06 She hasn't been there for a while, though.

00:28:08 Wow. That was a... It's not the best run she's ever done at the moment, but...

00:28:12 A risky move, but it did pay off. I think it was pretty quickly, pretty quick across that wave

00:28:18 when you drop in with a little bit more speed into the middle of the wave.

00:28:22 Oh, this is tight. Wow, exactly the same time as Kimberly Woods.

00:28:26 Or Mallory Franklin, sorry. Yep, this is tight. This is going to be a really close finish.

00:28:31 She's got a gate touch, but she can absorb that. She can still win a gold medal with a gate touch,

00:28:36 but she needs everything to be perfect. Mallory Franklin had difficulties at the bottom of the course.

00:28:41 Can Jess Fox pick up the time she needs in this bottom part of the course?

00:28:45 It's really tight. Wow. That's a great... Jess Fox is on fire.

00:28:51 She's really making a run for this. Using the water to her advantage there.

00:28:55 She's sliding maybe a little bit wide on 21, but I don't think that'll hurt her.

00:28:59 Oh! Just managing to avoid that gate touch.

00:29:03 She is really a toddler to watch. My goodness. She is throwing everything at it.

00:29:08 I don't think it's going to be fast enough, though. Wow. That was a very nice up gate.

00:29:12 It's going to be tight, but I think she's going to be outside Franklin's time.

00:29:16 Let's have a look. It's going to be close. It's just outside.

00:29:20 Just in the same time. Wow. She'll be really thinking about that touch.

00:29:26 Wow. They're reviewing it. Well, they're reviewing a touch.

00:29:31 So that does mean that we have one British medal for sure.

00:29:36 We have a British medal. We have two more paddlers to go.

00:29:40 And Jessica Fox, unfortunately for Jess Fox, just as we said earlier in the call,

00:29:49 you've got to take risks. You've got to risk it for the biscuit.

00:29:52 And sometimes if it doesn't come off, then...

00:29:55 You see the slow-mo there of her missing her paddle.

00:29:57 I think it might have cost her just a little bit on that.

00:29:59 She wasn't quite as turned as she would have probably wanted to be.

00:30:02 Just landing in that wave. Losing just its little bits of seconds all the way down.

00:30:07 And you see she was only 0.89 seconds back from the win.

00:30:13 So all of those little mistakes add up.

00:30:16 I'll tell you what, my heart. I hope it's not distracting you at home,

00:30:21 the noise of my heart beating.

00:30:23 Because at the moment I'm just absolutely beside myself with excitement

00:30:28 because we've got two of the most exciting young paddlers in the world to come still.

00:30:31 And here is Evie Liebfraut.

00:30:33 Can this teenager blow everyone out of the water like she did in Krakow?

00:30:39 Oh my goodness. Straight into the inside pole of that upgate.

00:30:43 She's going to have to work really hard to manage a touch in the first three gates.

00:30:51 Psychologically, it's either a booster, it'll make you go faster,

00:30:54 or it's really distracting. We'll see what it is for Evie today.

00:30:57 Yes, it's horrible when you know you've got that two-second penalty too.

00:31:02 And now you've got to work out ways to try and pick that up.

00:31:06 We saw Jess Fox having to do that and paid the price.

00:31:09 Evie Liebfraut is going to have to do something pretty special.

00:31:12 I don't know if she's...

00:31:13 If she can keep her stroke rate up all the way down this course, who knows?

00:31:16 Yes, but it's going to be tough for her because she's well down on the split at the moment.

00:31:21 So Mallory Franklin looking good, already guaranteed a bronze.

00:31:24 And well, Liebfraut is now five seconds down on Mallory Franklin.

00:31:29 So that's starting to look like it could be at least a silver.

00:31:32 Narrowly avoiding that touch there. Good job for Evie.

00:31:35 To stay clean after that first touch is really important.

00:31:40 But I think Mallory is looking at a silver medal at least.

00:31:44 And Kimberly a bronze at least. That's right.

00:31:46 So fancy that, folks. Fancy that, British canoeing fans.

00:31:50 But let's not get ahead of ourselves yet because Evie Liebfraut still has a few gates to go.

00:31:54 Oh, lovely move. That was smooth. Wow.

00:31:56 That was quick. She's picked up a bit of time there, but look at that.

00:31:59 She's got a long way to make up.

00:32:01 Can she do something really special here and get herself into medal contention?

00:32:06 Oh, no.

00:32:07 The thing is just that she's too high.

00:32:09 You can look how tired she is.

00:32:12 Oh, unfortunately for Evie.

00:32:13 Such a physical course.

00:32:14 That's the race gone there.

00:32:16 Unfortunately for the paddler from America, Evie Liebfraut.

00:32:19 Look at how much she's putting into it.

00:32:21 She'll be pulling right to the end.

00:32:23 Go, Evie. But yeah, unfortunately, not her day today.

00:32:28 Sixth place, 9.9 seconds back.

00:32:31 Every race is an experience.

00:32:33 So when you're only 19, you know, getting out there and making the most of every opportunity you have to race for your world championship final.

00:32:42 Yeah, that's right.

00:32:43 So just after that run of Evie is still in contention for a medal.

00:32:50 All is riding on Monica Doria Villarugla.

00:32:53 So I wouldn't be holding my breath if I were Jess, but you never know.

00:32:58 Yeah, I mean, what we do know is that Great Britain will have two medals in the women's final, which is a pretty good day out for the home nation.

00:33:07 The question is what color will Monica Doria Villarugla rain on the British parade?

00:33:14 We've had a lot of rain this week.

00:33:16 Would there be more rain on the parade of the Great Brits right now?

00:33:21 You know who's to say? I cannot call this before she goes.

00:33:26 I don't think. In fact, I know we've never had an Andorran world champion.

00:33:30 That's right. She.

00:33:33 How exciting would it be for this tiny little European country to have a world champion Monica Doria Villarugla?

00:33:39 No pressure, but.

00:33:41 Oh, that was nice. Tight.

00:33:44 That was nice. So everybody's watching.

00:33:46 There is nobody in this stadium willing to take their eyes off the water right now.

00:33:53 Wow. Monica is just handling her boat so nicely through this offset.

00:33:57 Just absolutely perfect placement, I would say.

00:34:00 She just her edge control, her boat control, paddles timing, just really, really, really textbook through here.

00:34:07 She is a little bit behind the British time.

00:34:10 But we've got time at the bottom of the course. Don't forget. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no.

00:34:14 That's that's going to be costly for her. Oh, dear.

00:34:17 Is that the gold medal gone? Yeah.

00:34:19 Slipping off that wave is really that's a critical move there to keep the boat going.

00:34:24 I be interesting to see the look on Mallory Franklin's face right now.

00:34:28 But I think that she knows she's got this gold medal.

00:34:31 I think she just saw then when Monica Doria Villarugla slipped down that wave there.

00:34:35 I think she saw the gold medal coming in her direction.

00:34:37 Yeah. And, you know, the canoe racing here has been so tight to get into the semifinal.

00:34:43 There was not a huge gap. And we see here in the top three current times, there's point eight nine of a second.

00:34:49 So there's really not a lot of room for error if you want to be meddling in the women's field today.

00:34:54 No. So Monica Doria Villarugla looking to finish off.

00:34:57 She's a little bit stuck on that gate 19. And you can see on the exit there,

00:35:00 she's just a little closer to the bollards than she would want to be.

00:35:03 So now her goal would be to finish top five, I think. And Anna Sotila sitting fifth at the moment with a one 15.

00:35:10 So that's about this. She's in that ballpark right now.

00:35:13 Oh, lost a little bit of time there as well.

00:35:15 See what Monica can do on that last sprint.

00:35:18 So no gold medal, no medal for Monica Doria Villarugla.

00:35:24 Crossing down now. She's going to move into sixth place, maybe seventh, sixth place.

00:35:30 But there's your gold medalist. Look at her. Mallory Franklin. Yes, you're too tall. Get down. Get off that box.

00:35:35 Smile from Monica, though. She she really did give it her all, which was nice to see.

00:35:39 She most certainly did. But let's stand up and applaud for Mallory Franklin, because she is a world champion again.

00:35:46 She did it in 2017. She's waited six years. Look at her.

00:35:50 She's waited six years to get back on top of the podium. And what a time to do it in front of your home crowd.

00:35:55 Absolutely. What a special place to win in your your home nation and with your teammate right next to you.

00:36:03 Cheek by jowl, cheek by jowl, sitting there in the silver medal position.

00:36:07 How proud are you? British paddling fans, you have gold, you have silver.

00:36:12 And just to keep it in the Commonwealth, Jessica Fox from Australia picking up the bronze medal.

00:36:18 Jess Fox's raw time. Jess Fox's raw time was the quickest time on the course.

00:36:24 Nine for very, very, very fast. That little touch that Jess Fox had on gate three.

00:36:29 I think it was. So it's going to be the difference between gold and bronze.

00:36:38 But helmet scratch there. Yeah, I don't think Mallory can quite believe it.

00:36:43 She's trying to keep things under control, but it's a great moment for her.

00:36:48 It's a great moment for British canoeing. Let's have a listen to Mallory Franklin.

00:36:53 Let's have a listen. Now, there's confirmation Mallory Franklin gold, Kimberly Woods silver, Fox, Lillic, Sattila.

00:36:59 Rounding out your top five athletes. Yeah, pretty cool to see three different continents.

00:37:10 I thought there was room for time, but you did it. Congratulations. How are you feeling?

00:37:14 Thanks. Yeah, no, it was. I mean, there still was time in it.

00:37:17 And I think everyone showed there was little bits in everyone's run. But it's really cool.

00:37:21 And I'm really happy to have come away with a win and home with the crowd and everything with it.

00:37:26 It's just been really cool. And yeah. Yeah, we could hear the crowd cheering for you.

00:37:31 You're happy. This means that you got the quota for the Olympics.

00:37:35 And what does it mean for you coming going to K1?

00:37:40 Yeah, I mean, I didn't have the best heats in kayak.

00:37:43 So I'm looking forward to getting out on this course a little bit more technical and can take the learning from today

00:37:48 and hopefully deliver a good run. And we'll see what happens tomorrow.

00:37:52 Definitely. Congratulations. Thank you.

00:37:56 Yeah. Well done, Mallory Franklin. Look at the lots of kids here today.

00:38:00 It's cool. It's on holidays. Are they or are they just bludgeoning? I think there's school groups in here.

00:38:04 Are they? I'd like to see if they got a note. Pretty great field trip if you ask me.

00:38:08 What a cool day. What a cool way to spend a Friday. Don't worry about going to school.

00:38:12 Just come and sit here on the banks on the grassy knoll.

00:38:16 And what's your country win a gold medal and a silver medal? What a cracking final.

00:38:20 I hope you've enjoyed it at home. We've certainly enjoyed bringing it to you.

00:38:23 Myself and my co-commentator, Lois Petridge from Canada.

00:38:29 Thank you, Lois. Thanks for having me, Ross. Thank you.

00:38:33 Enjoy the men's final. Yes, looking forward to the men's final very, very much.

00:38:37 But looking back now at some of the highlights from the women's race, and it really, really was special.

00:38:42 And just exciting to see. I mean, it's always a bit special at a world championship when you have homegrown athletes coming out and winning gold medals.

00:38:51 You saw it last year in Augsburg on a couple of occasions.

00:38:54 And now we've seen it today in the women's canoe. What can happen in the men's canoe?

00:39:00 We also have a Brit in action there in the men's canoe.

00:39:03 So it's going to make it for make for a very exciting men's final.

00:39:10 And we are going to see some quality athletes, some world champions in action, some Olympic champions in action, including this man.

00:39:18 Sideris Tasiades from Germany, Olympic two-time Olympic medalist.

00:39:25 He's a reigning world champion. And today he will mean business.

00:39:30 He already has that quota locked away for Germany.

00:39:34 And he would love to hold on to the world crown, the crown he won last year in front of an adoring home crowd in Augsburg.

00:39:43 He would love to come out today at Lee Valley where he won a medal in 2012 at the London Olympics.

00:39:52 He would love to come out today again and show the British crowd what he's made of.

00:39:58 It's going to be a great final. Brodie Crawford, look at that quality lineup.

00:40:03 Yeah, we all we start from scratch again.

00:40:06 We've got a few, well, a few big names and a few upsets maybe as well. Polo kicked on and Hedwig maybe.

00:40:13 You wouldn't expect to be up in there in the top ten, but they've taken their opportunity and they're ready to go.

00:40:18 They really are. Now we just need to bring you up to speed with the Olympic qualifications because it's since we were on air, there's been some issues.

00:40:27 There's been some dramas.

00:40:29 So we told you that Switzerland had finished in 20th place and 12th overall in terms of the nation.

00:40:37 What we then ascertained is the country that was 21st had exactly the same time.

00:40:42 Oh, you're kidding me.

00:40:44 And that country was Spain. And so now they're checking it out.

00:40:49 They're going back through the rule books. They're going through to determine what happens.

00:40:52 You're kidding me.

00:40:54 I wish I was. I actually wish I was kidding.

00:40:57 But I am not kidding you. What are the chances?

00:41:00 So the countries that finished 20th and 21st, that's Switzerland and Spain.

00:41:06 They are both tied for the 12th quota position for Paris next year.

00:41:12 You could not you could not write a script like this, could you?

00:41:14 No, you couldn't. What can you tell us?

00:41:17 As you said in the semifinals, bloody hell.

00:41:21 And I'm going to say it again right now, because that is a that is a moment when you're allowed to do a slight blaspheme.

00:41:27 What can I tell you? Well, I can tell you that our much finer minds than mine, Brodie Crawford, are working on it as we speak.

00:41:35 As we speak.

00:41:37 The nice thing to do would be just to give it to the Swiss because the Spanish have it.

00:41:40 The Spanish have the quota anyway.

00:41:42 But then the next country in line from Europe will probably say, well, hang on a moment.

00:41:48 We want to go as well.

00:41:50 Of course, of course.

00:41:52 Everybody wants to be there.

00:41:54 So, yeah, sounds like a logistical nightmare.

00:41:56 It does indeed.

00:41:58 Luckily, our job is much simpler.

00:42:00 Brodie, we just get to call the final and we call a gold medal race.

00:42:04 And this is it. The World Championship final is underway.

00:42:07 And a man who doesn't have to worry about any of that nonsense because he's already got that quota locked away from Italy is Paolo Ceccon.

00:42:13 He's on the water now.

00:42:15 Silver at the 2015 and the 2023 World Championships. Snuck into this final.

00:42:20 And sometimes when you think you might have got further than you're expecting, Brodie, you can really throw it down in the final.

00:42:25 Absolutely. He's starting this run beautifully, too.

00:42:28 I haven't seen any errors, really.

00:42:30 It's a really solid start and he's building in beautifully.

00:42:32 Oh, it's just a little low.

00:42:34 Got to really push it that way, but he's caught it back.

00:42:36 It's not too bad.

00:42:37 Really nice there in the up left.

00:42:40 So the fastest qualifying time, the fastest raw qualifying time in the semifinal was a 96.09, which is what Benny Savsek laid down.

00:42:52 96.09.

00:42:54 So definitely you need to be under 100 for sure to be in the chance of a medal here.

00:42:59 Anything over 100, you might as well pack up and go home, I think.

00:43:03 Plenty of things have happened.

00:43:05 I think I have to agree with that, Ross.

00:43:07 So good times.

00:43:09 This looks like a very solid run.

00:43:11 From memory, this split was around the 73 mark for most of that semifinal.

00:43:15 This is good for Paolo.

00:43:16 Nice there, too.

00:43:18 Very nice through that little combination.

00:43:21 Here's a place where some athletes have lost some time.

00:43:24 We've seen a couple of boats flip over and all sorts of things happening here.

00:43:27 So you need to nail this and he's done a good job.

00:43:30 Paolo Ceccion.

00:43:32 It's going to be a sub-100 time, Ross.

00:43:34 So very, very solid start to this final.

00:43:37 Yes, he has gone just under that.

00:43:40 Well done.

00:43:41 He's happy.

00:43:42 He's happy.

00:43:43 He knows that that's a time that people are going to have to work hard to beat.

00:43:46 Look at that.

00:43:47 Look at that.

00:43:48 That's good to see.

00:43:49 Here's a bloke you wouldn't want to be his panel leader because you're going to have some work to do.

00:43:53 But, yeah, look at that.

00:43:55 The Italian support staff are happy.

00:43:57 Paolo Ceccion is happy.

00:43:58 He's put down a time that other people are going to have to work really hard to get better at.

00:44:04 Look at the determination on his face from Paolo Ceccion.

00:44:10 Silver in the Under-23 World Championships way back in 2015.

00:44:14 So it's been a long time between drinks for Paolo Ceccion to get on the podium, put to debut today.

00:44:23 What a day to do it at the World Championships.

00:44:25 It sure is.

00:44:26 Awesome to see him seize the moment there.

00:44:28 He's sort of in a team that sometimes he's outshone by maybe I could say with some big names.

00:44:32 But he's been really consistent over the last couple of years.

00:44:35 So awesome to see that great run.

00:44:37 And he's put the pressure on everyone else, most importantly.

00:44:40 So we mentioned earlier on it's been a very big week for Luka Bozic.

00:44:43 He became a father for the first time this week on Saturday.

00:44:47 He flew back.

00:44:48 He got a 3 a.m. phone call.

00:44:50 He raced out to the airport, got a 6 a.m. flight, flew back to Slovenia.

00:44:55 He missed the birth, unfortunately, but he was there for the first hours of his baby boy's life.

00:45:00 And had a great celebration with his girlfriend.

00:45:04 Flew back to London that night.

00:45:06 Was on the water the next morning preparing for the World Championship title.

00:45:10 And can he put down something special today, Luka Bozic?

00:45:13 Yeah, pretty amazing week he's had.

00:45:17 Oh!

00:45:18 Wow.

00:45:19 He's done well there.

00:45:21 He's done well, but he's got a two-second penalty.

00:45:23 Yeah, but it looked like he was going to miss it for a second.

00:45:27 Yeah, this is what happens in a World Championship final.

00:45:30 You really have--you can't be safe.

00:45:33 You can't be safe, can you, Brodie?

00:45:34 No, I mean, you never want to get a touch like that, but at least it's early

00:45:38 so he can take all the risks all the way to the finish and try and claw back that time.

00:45:43 So Bozic is one of two Slovenians in this final.

00:45:47 The last paddler on the course will be the reigning Olympic champion, Benny Savcic.

00:45:53 And they are always formidable performers, the Slovenians,

00:45:58 so you'll expect that one of them will give it a good nudge.

00:46:01 Might not be Luka Bozic's day today, although he has picked up a bit of time, I think.

00:46:05 Not a lot, but he's picked up a bit of time on the bottom half of this course.

00:46:09 Yeah, it's hard to fault what he's done so far.

00:46:11 He's just very, very good there.

00:46:13 Oh!

00:46:14 Give the judges some work to do there.

00:46:16 What are they going to call that?

00:46:17 I think they're giving it the OK.

00:46:19 They're reviewing it.

00:46:20 It was tight.

00:46:21 Yeah, that'll go to the video judges.

00:46:23 Oh, wow, they're just getting there.

00:46:25 Just settling back down after lunch, too.

00:46:27 They had a couple of-- I saw a few of them.

00:46:28 They're having a couple of extra lamingtons at lunchtime,

00:46:30 so now they've got to put those to one side and do some work

00:46:34 and work out whether there's a 50-second penalty or not.

00:46:36 But that time is-- oh, he's under 100.

00:46:40 Wow.

00:46:41 Raw time.

00:46:42 He pulled it well, didn't he?

00:46:43 He pulled back a lot of time.

00:46:44 Yeah, after that early touch.

00:46:45 Yeah.

00:46:46 But unfortunately-- and they are still reviewing that gate.

00:46:52 It looked close, no doubt about it,

00:46:54 but did he get his whole head between the poles?

00:46:59 Maybe we'll see a replay.

00:47:00 We'll see a replay coming up here.

00:47:02 Well, here we go.

00:47:03 You be the judge at home, folks.

00:47:04 Is this a 50 or is it-- ooh!

00:47:06 Oh.

00:47:08 Brodie Crawford, I'm putting you on the spot here.

00:47:10 Slow-mo is not helping him, I don't think, Ross.

00:47:13 In full speed, it looked good to me,

00:47:15 but in slow-mo, I'm not so sure.

00:47:17 Yeah, the slow motion may be the killer for him.

00:47:22 Ooh, look, he's got that little bit of hair sticking out

00:47:24 of his helmet, I think.

00:47:25 Maybe that got through.

00:47:26 Nope, they've given him a 50.

00:47:28 They've just confirmed it.

00:47:30 The 50 goes on for Luka Bozic.

00:47:32 That's disappointing for the new dad from Slovenia.

00:47:37 Yeah, tough, tough day for him.

00:47:39 But at least he gets to go home to a baby boy.

00:47:41 That's pretty cool.

00:47:42 Yeah, and I had a chat to him the other day.

00:47:44 He was saying, you know, everything

00:47:45 gets put into perspective about what's important in life,

00:47:47 when suddenly you are responsible for a youngster.

00:47:51 So he will go home tonight and celebrate, I'm sure.

00:47:55 And we'll see him in Paris in a couple of weeks

00:47:57 for the World Cup.

00:47:58 There we go, the French, don't they?

00:47:59 Love dressing up in ridiculous clothes.

00:48:01 Speaking about a youngster.

00:48:02 Yep.

00:48:03 The youngster coming down the course now.

00:48:05 One of the quickest we've seen in a long time.

00:48:07 Yep, a two-time under-23 world champion,

00:48:10 two World Cup gold medals last year on the World Cup circuit.

00:48:14 So we know what he's capable of.

00:48:16 It's today going to be his day to become a senior world

00:48:19 champion for the first time.

00:48:20 Nicola Ghestin from France.

00:48:22 Yeah, he's off to a nice start.

00:48:24 Like you say, he's got everything you need to do it.

00:48:27 It's just putting it all together on the day,

00:48:29 under all the pressure.

00:48:30 But so far, very nice.

00:48:33 Close on the split.

00:48:34 Goes the direct there, Ross.

00:48:35 Risky, but he's pulled it off nicely.

00:48:38 Yeah, got a little bit stuck there, but--

00:48:42 This next split will be interesting.

00:48:44 Yeah, yep.

00:48:45 I think he's going to be-- oh, it's close.

00:48:47 It is close.

00:48:48 So if he can stay clean here, he could be in a position

00:48:51 to challenge for the lead.

00:48:52 We could have a new race leader, but let's not

00:48:54 get ahead of ourselves, because he has a few gates to go.

00:48:57 And there's some tricky combinations for him

00:48:59 to maneuver for Nicola Ghestin from France.

00:49:02 Yeah, so far good, though.

00:49:03 Really beautiful through those offsets there.

00:49:07 Really smooth, kept the boat running.

00:49:09 Let's look at this escape.

00:49:10 It's been a killer all weekend, and wow, he nails it.

00:49:13 That's the move of the day.

00:49:14 Oh, and he's up.

00:49:15 That is the move of the day for Nicola Ghestin from France.

00:49:18 Is that a gold medal winning move?

00:49:21 Let's have a look at the time.

00:49:23 He's got to go under 98.9 to put himself

00:49:27 into the gold medal position.

00:49:28 He is nailing this, Brodie.

00:49:30 Yeah, a little bit deep there.

00:49:31 Deep in the last upstream.

00:49:33 It's going to be close, Ross.

00:49:34 It's going to be touch and go.

00:49:35 I don't have a good new race leader.

00:49:37 I think we have Nicola Ghestin crosses the line now.

00:49:39 He is just in front.

00:49:42 Whoa, Nicola Ghestin from France goes into the lead.

00:49:48 Never been a senior world champion before.

00:49:50 Is today going to be his day?

00:49:52 He's going to be a nervous weight.

00:49:54 Yeah, he's given himself a good chance.

00:49:56 Going to be right up there in the mix.

00:49:57 We did see some 96-second runs without their touches

00:50:01 in the semifinals.

00:50:02 So there's time out there, Ross.

00:50:04 You do sign language, Brodie.

00:50:05 What does that mean?

00:50:06 Three fingers and a drinking gesture.

00:50:08 What does that mean?

00:50:09 You owe me three drinks, Brodie Crawford, I think he's saying.

00:50:14 But the move through the S, that was something to behold.

00:50:18 That was--

00:50:20 Yeah, that was silky stuff, wasn't it?

00:50:22 Yeah, that put him into the--

00:50:24 There it is.

00:50:26 Look at that.

00:50:27 Wow.

00:50:29 And no real risk taken.

00:50:30 Just smooth, isn't it?

00:50:31 Look at that.

00:50:32 Just making a water his friend.

00:50:36 Sliding through there.

00:50:37 Let's see now.

00:50:39 Is it going to be enough to challenge for a medal?

00:50:42 You would have to think 98.58.

00:50:47 Pretty close to the fastest split, the fastest time from this morning.

00:50:50 These two chaps don't look that happy, do they?

00:50:52 I think there's other places they'd rather be.

00:50:55 They've just been knocked off by the youngster.

00:50:57 But yeah, I think that'll be right up there in the medals.

00:50:59 We're going to have to wait and find out if they go quicker

00:51:02 or the pressure gets them.

00:51:04 We see some more touches potentially.

00:51:07 So Václav Chalupka now takes to the course.

00:51:09 He is the 2021 world champion way back in Ljubljana--

00:51:14 No, it wasn't Ljubljana, sorry, it's Bratislava.

00:51:16 Yes.

00:51:17 2021.

00:51:18 Third in the European Championships this year.

00:51:21 So he's been paddling okay.

00:51:23 Ooh.

00:51:24 Yeah, coming off a good result at the European Champs.

00:51:27 So definitely have some confidence.

00:51:29 This is right on the edge of the limit,

00:51:32 but it's working for him at the moment.

00:51:34 It's a nice start to the run.

00:51:36 So he's one of two Czechs in this race,

00:51:39 and of course this is all part of their Olympic qualifiers as well.

00:51:43 So there's a bit of a race going on between himself and Lukáš Roan here,

00:51:46 I think.

00:51:47 I'm pretty certain that this is one of their qualifying races.

00:51:49 So it'll be a bit of a--

00:51:51 He'll want to be a world champion,

00:51:52 but he'll also want to make sure he finishes ahead of his Czech teammate.

00:51:56 Yeah, absolutely.

00:51:57 There's races within races this weekend, isn't there,

00:51:59 after what's happening.

00:52:00 Yep.

00:52:01 So much in the line for a lot of these athletes.

00:52:03 So is.

00:52:04 Now, at this stage, this is good.

00:52:06 This is clean, and this is quite fast.

00:52:08 He's not a million miles away from the split time.

00:52:10 Let's get an update in just a moment.

00:52:12 Ooh, not as smooth as guest in was.

00:52:16 He lost a little bit of time there.

00:52:18 So can he pick it up here, though?

00:52:20 Ooh, that was nice.

00:52:21 Very nice.

00:52:22 Is it going to be enough, though?

00:52:23 He's got to go under 98, really, to get himself into the lead.

00:52:27 A little conservative there, I think, on that turn.

00:52:29 He went the direct, but it was a little low.

00:52:31 That's a little low again.

00:52:32 Yeah, I know.

00:52:35 Slipping away, unfortunately, for Václav Čalouka.

00:52:38 He's out of the medal contention.

00:52:40 Václav Čalouka from the Czech Republic

00:52:42 slips down into third position,

00:52:44 but his time is at 100, so that's going to be tough.

00:52:50 Yeah.

00:52:51 Far out.

00:52:52 Pretty solid runs, haven't we?

00:52:54 Slight 50 from Bozic, but they've all sort of thrown down some fast times

00:52:57 here to start the final.

00:53:00 Yeah, Luka Bozic has the fastest raw time on the course so far,

00:53:06 but 52 seconds in penalties is the killer for him.

00:53:10 So at this stage, as we head towards the halfway stage of this final,

00:53:15 it is a Frenchman sitting on the top of the podium.

00:53:17 It is Nicolas Ghesquine from France, next to him the Italian,

00:53:22 Paolo Tecson and Václav Čalouka sitting in third.

00:53:26 But now you watch the British crowd are about to get excited

00:53:29 because their man, Mr. A. Burgess, is about to take the course.

00:53:34 Fourth place in Tokyo back at the Tokyo Olympics,

00:53:38 2015 under-23 world champion.

00:53:42 He's already watched two of his teammates win medals today,

00:53:45 Mallory Franklin and Kimberly Woods, first and second in the women's C1.

00:53:49 That would inspire him, wouldn't it?

00:53:51 That would lift him to go out and do something pretty special.

00:53:54 Yeah, and he's a lightning-hard one, especially on this course.

00:53:57 He knows he's got everything it takes to win.

00:54:00 Far out, some pressure on his shoulders.

00:54:03 No Adam.

00:54:04 Listen to the crowd. Listen to the British crowd.

00:54:07 They're not happy to settle just for one gold.

00:54:09 They want to go home and talk about the two gold medals they saw today

00:54:12 at the Leigh Valley Whitewater Centre in London.

00:54:15 What can Adam Burgess bring them?

00:54:17 He's made a good, strong start here, nice and clean, nice and smooth.

00:54:21 Yeah, looking very nice, very composed.

00:54:24 Just get through these first eight gates.

00:54:26 He's had a lot of little touches and fiddly mistakes through there,

00:54:29 so he's done well to navigate that, and then it's time to put on the afterburners.

00:54:33 So he's down a little bit on the split, but not by much.

00:54:36 Ooh, nice swing, nice spin there.

00:54:38 Ooh!

00:54:40 He's got a little bit of a gap on the surf there.

00:54:42 He saw the nose going under the water.

00:54:44 That's not what you want.

00:54:45 You want to try and keep the nose at the front of the boat free,

00:54:47 but not too much of a time loss.

00:54:49 Still about a second down now on the time of guest in,

00:54:52 so he can pick that up.

00:54:54 He can pick that up in the bottom half of the course.

00:54:56 But guest in was very good in a couple of the gate moves down here.

00:55:00 So Burgess is going to have to be really smooth.

00:55:03 Yeah, for sure. He's got to be good in that S gate.

00:55:06 And then I think he can claim back a little bit in the last upright

00:55:09 as he's been through the rest of the course.

00:55:11 Let's see how he goes here.

00:55:12 Ooh!

00:55:14 Not as smooth as guest in, but it wasn't too bad.

00:55:17 But he's down now. He's getting down to two seconds down.

00:55:20 That's a lot to make up.

00:55:22 A lot to make up in the last three gates, but let's see what he can do.

00:55:26 Here he is, Adam Burgess.

00:55:28 Can he at least put himself into a medal-winning position?

00:55:31 I don't think he's going to be fast enough to be in the gold medal position,

00:55:34 but could he slip himself into second or third?

00:55:36 He's racing for the line now, Adam Burgess from Great Britain.

00:55:40 He's going to be ticking over the wall.

00:55:42 He moves into third.

00:55:44 He moves into third for Adam Burgess.

00:55:48 So that means at the halfway stage of this final, it's a Frenchman

00:55:52 who is sitting at the moment with a gold medal in his hands.

00:55:55 Nicola gets in.

00:55:57 What do you think, Brodie Crawford?

00:55:58 Is that going to be a time good enough to hold on now and win a medal?

00:56:03 It's hard to say. I think it's going to come very close.

00:56:07 I think it's going to be around that third, fourth sort of area.

00:56:10 I think we're going to see a 96, I think, from the winner, potentially.

00:56:17 I think you might be right, and when we have a look at the quality

00:56:19 of athletes still to come, we have Olympic medalists,

00:56:21 we've got world champions, so the quality is there.

00:56:25 Let's have a listen to our race leader, Nicola Ghestin from France.

00:56:29 That was an amazing run, so smooth. How are you feeling?

00:56:32 I really feel happy with my run. It was a hard course, hard semis,

00:56:37 and to do it in the final in the right moment, that's really great.

00:56:42 So we will see. I didn't know if it would be enough,

00:56:44 but already I'm happy with what I do.

00:56:46 What was the most challenging part of the run?

00:56:50 I don't know really, because everywhere there is some things to do and to work,

00:56:56 but for me the last part was really maybe not perfect,

00:57:00 so I think they can be really faster on this last part,

00:57:04 but we will see. It's the final, so sometimes it's enough.

00:57:08 Well, good luck. Thank you. See you.

00:57:11 Au revoir. Well, there we go.

00:57:14 You and I thought he did pretty well on that bottom half of the course,

00:57:16 but you thought he could have made up a bit of time.

00:57:19 What do we know? What do we know?

00:57:21 I think he might be referencing that last upright where he went a bit deep,

00:57:24 as you mentioned, but it was pretty close to perfect, wasn't it?

00:57:27 So interesting. Look there. We've had five athletes on the course.

00:57:30 Four of them have gone through without any mistakes at all.

00:57:33 Just Luka Bozic is the only one, and he had the fastest raw time.

00:57:37 He was the only one to make a mistake.

00:57:40 So does that mean that you have to have a clean run to win a gold medal?

00:57:45 Could somebody pick up a touch and still challenge for a medal?

00:57:50 Well, we have the quality to do it. Absolutely no doubt about that.

00:57:52 And the five athletes still to come.

00:57:54 The likes of the Tasiadis or Savchik, I think they can absorb a touch

00:57:58 and be around that 98 mark.

00:58:00 So time will tell, but it's going to be close.

00:58:05 We have still to come the gold, silver and bronze medalists from Tokyo,

00:58:12 which is quite remarkable.

00:58:14 We have the Rio 2016 silver medalists still to come.

00:58:20 And then we have Gregor Hedwig, who has got nothing to lose today.

00:58:23 He can throw it all out there. He's a two-time Olympian.

00:58:26 He could be the man to upset the apple cart.

00:58:29 Yeah, looking forward to seeing him throw it down.

00:58:31 Throw caution to the wind.

00:58:32 Yep. Here he is, Matej Banusz.

00:58:36 He already has a win today.

00:58:38 Brody, you mentioned it in the early part of the call,

00:58:40 in the race for Slovakian Olympic qualification.

00:58:44 He's had a good result today because his two Slovakian teammates

00:58:47 both missed out on the final.

00:58:49 So he gets extra points, which I'm sure is a great relief for Banusz.

00:58:53 Yeah, for sure.

00:58:54 And it will probably free him up a bit,

00:58:56 knowing that he doesn't have a fellow countryman in this final

00:58:59 that he's racing inside the race.

00:59:01 So I'm sure he can sort of take a few more risks

00:59:03 and really go for that gold medal.

00:59:06 So nice and smooth so far for Banusz.

00:59:08 Not a long way down on the split.

00:59:10 Importantly, he is clean as the clouds start to roll in.

00:59:14 It's definitely become a little bit overcast here at Lee Valley.

00:59:17 I don't think they forecast any rain.

00:59:19 And as you can see by those poles, there's no wind.

00:59:21 So they're not bad conditions at all to be paddling in this afternoon.

00:59:26 And these athletes have already been on this course once today,

00:59:30 hoping to finish off here.

00:59:31 And Banusz now is close enough, if good enough, Brody,

00:59:35 to challenge for this gold medal.

00:59:37 Yeah, it's looking really nice, this crucial S move.

00:59:40 Let's see how he goes.

00:59:41 Oh, very good.

00:59:42 This is going to be close on the split.

00:59:45 0.65, Ross, it's on here.

00:59:47 So Gestin said that he lost a bit of time at this part of the course.

00:59:50 So can Banusz pick that time up as he heads towards the finish line?

00:59:54 And the time is a 98.58.

00:59:57 That is the gold medal winning time at the moment.

00:59:59 Oh, no.

01:00:00 He's off the back of the wave, just dropping low.

01:00:03 Oh, just when I was preparing to call a new race leader,

01:00:07 but it is not going to be Banusz.

01:00:09 He is swooping down to the leaderboard now.

01:00:11 Unfortunately, a big mistake there on that last wave.

01:00:15 No, not happening.

01:00:16 Wow.

01:00:17 Yeah, it felt like it was primed for him to take the lead there.

01:00:21 Being on the right, he's a right-handed paddler,

01:00:23 meaning he has that last upstream on his good side.

01:00:25 So I thought he might pull back that half a second,

01:00:27 but missing the wave.

01:00:30 Shaking the head there for the big man from Slovakia.

01:00:35 It's always very easy to read his body language.

01:00:40 Yeah, it is with the Slovaks.

01:00:43 We were training with the Slovaks,

01:00:45 and I cut Banusz off on one of my runs,

01:00:47 and he wasn't too happy about it.

01:00:49 But I think we made up.

01:00:51 I'm not sure.

01:00:52 Did you learn some new words in Slovakian that day?

01:00:54 I think I might have, yeah.

01:00:57 So we have just four athletes to go in this men's C1 final.

01:01:02 Who will take the gold medal?

01:01:04 We have, at the moment, Nicolas Ghestin from France,

01:01:08 sitting there on top of the leaderboard.

01:01:10 But the man he's watching, having a chat to himself,

01:01:13 is Lukas Roan from the Czech Republic.

01:01:15 He was a silver medalist in Tokyo last year at the Tokyo Olympics.

01:01:20 What a great moment that was for him.

01:01:22 And can he today, can he become a world champion?

01:01:28 Oh, a big pivot there on the tail to start, get a boost off the start.

01:01:31 I like to see that.

01:01:33 Let's see how he goes through his first escape.

01:01:37 Very nice.

01:01:38 Very smooth for Lukas Roan.

01:01:41 You would think that for these top-level paddlers,

01:01:44 a 98.58 shouldn't hold too many fears for them,

01:01:47 but it is a world championship final, and we know crazy things can happen.

01:01:50 People get overawed by the situation and make mistakes, but look at that.

01:01:55 He is right in touch with his split time.

01:01:58 Yeah, and opting for the swap there.

01:02:00 You don't see that too much in the men's, very common in the women's C1.

01:02:03 So he swapped to the right side,

01:02:05 and then back to the left there you can see he's done it beautifully.

01:02:08 Yeah, working for him.

01:02:10 Absolutely working for him here.

01:02:11 It's going to be very close now to the split time.

01:02:13 Look at that.

01:02:14 You could not get much closer.

01:02:16 Lukas Roan is laying down a pretty exciting run here.

01:02:20 Can he hold it together, though, for the man from the Czech Republic,

01:02:24 the Olympic silver medalist, Lukas Roan?

01:02:26 This is good so far, Brody.

01:02:28 Yeah, it's looking really good.

01:02:29 Let's see this stagger.

01:02:30 This is a tricky little stagger.

01:02:31 It gets--yep, very nice.

01:02:33 Gets the pop away a little much on the tail maybe, but not too bad.

01:02:37 Let's have a look at this S.

01:02:39 Not too bad.

01:02:41 Very solid, slightly low, but he's in touch.

01:02:43 Yep.

01:02:44 Half a second down now.

01:02:45 Half a second, he's got to pick that up.

01:02:47 Where's he going to find that half--oh, that was nice.

01:02:49 There's time on the bottom here,

01:02:50 but we haven't seen anyone take advantage of that time that Justin left on the bottom.

01:02:54 Let's see, can Lukas Roan get across here quickly?

01:02:56 Yes, he can.

01:02:57 That's a really good move there.

01:02:59 Righto.

01:03:00 Now he's got to pin the ears back.

01:03:01 He's got to race to the line.

01:03:02 He's got to go under 98.

01:03:03 It's going to be nip and tuck.

01:03:04 It's going to be very close.

01:03:05 Have we got a new race leader?

01:03:07 We have not.

01:03:09 Oh, just how it's soft.

01:03:12 Far out.

01:03:15 Oh, wow.

01:03:16 That is tight, isn't it, those top three positions.

01:03:19 It is very tight.

01:03:20 Beautiful finish to his run, but just not quite enough.

01:03:23 He's brought back a bit of time, but into third.

01:03:28 I thought it was into second.

01:03:29 No, it's tight.

01:03:30 It's so tight in between the first three athletes now.

01:03:34 They're all in that 98 second mark.

01:03:38 98.58 for Nikola Gesten.

01:03:40 It is still looking good.

01:03:42 Yes, Paolo Ceklon, who went down first.

01:03:44 He's holding steady up there in second place.

01:03:47 He's been standing in there in a kiss and cry for so long there,

01:03:49 he almost has to get a passport to remain.

01:03:53 Can he stay there till the end?

01:03:55 Three athletes to come in.

01:03:57 In just a moment we will know who our first medalist is.

01:04:01 The man about to take to the water, though,

01:04:03 he'll have a big say in this because he is the reigning world champion.

01:04:07 He is a two-time Olympic medalist.

01:04:10 I'm talking Sideris Astiadis from Germany.

01:04:14 Look at him.

01:04:15 Look at that man.

01:04:16 He means business.

01:04:17 He does.

01:04:18 He won the silver medal here on this course in London in 2012.

01:04:22 He likes it here.

01:04:24 He loves paddling.

01:04:27 Here he goes.

01:04:29 The big man, the world champion, Sideris Astiadis,

01:04:33 bronze medalist in the Olympics in Tokyo.

01:04:35 Always gives it his best.

01:04:37 Yes, ultra-consistent paddler.

01:04:39 Can he go back-to-back world championship?

01:04:41 That would be pretty incredible.

01:04:43 Brodie, you rarely see him really stuff up a run, do you?

01:04:46 No.

01:04:47 Yes, absolutely.

01:04:48 He's always there about.

01:04:51 Even when he has a bit of a down day, he normally manages --

01:04:54 ooh, normally manages --

01:04:55 Whoa, look at this.

01:04:57 It's a radical start, but he's making it work.

01:05:00 Yeah, he is throwing -- he's not going to die wondering.

01:05:02 He is going to put everything out there.

01:05:04 He does not want to go to bed tonight.

01:05:06 He's pinching on, if that's where he's going,

01:05:08 wondering, "I finally know how to have done this."

01:05:10 He doesn't want to even think about that.

01:05:12 He wants to know, "I did everything I possibly could,

01:05:15 and if I missed out, well, I missed out."

01:05:17 But at the moment, it's close.

01:05:19 Wow, look at that.

01:05:20 It's very close.

01:05:22 There's a review going on the way, but I think it was okay.

01:05:24 I didn't spot anything.

01:05:25 Did you see anything on gate six?

01:05:27 I didn't see anything, no.

01:05:28 I think it's okay.

01:05:30 Let's hope for his sake he's clean.

01:05:32 Yep.

01:05:33 Ooh, look at this.

01:05:34 He is really shoving that boat around.

01:05:35 Yeah.

01:05:36 He's not exactly making it look easy, Ross, but --

01:05:38 Whoa, there's a touch for sure with the chin, the chinny-chin-chin.

01:05:41 Now he's really got to rip it.

01:05:42 Yeah, maybe if he had shaved off the bum fluff, he'd be all --

01:05:45 Oh, there's another touch there, I think.

01:05:47 Another touch, I think, yes.

01:05:49 He's got it.

01:05:50 Oh, Sideris Tasiades, everything was going well.

01:05:53 He cannot absorb two touches.

01:05:55 No, I don't think so.

01:05:57 It's going to be tough from there.

01:06:00 It never really looked like he found his rhythm, did it, Ross?

01:06:02 He was fighting a lot of that.

01:06:04 Just a little too close to the poles, maybe.

01:06:06 Just -- yeah.

01:06:07 It was too much on the edge, it felt.

01:06:09 Yeah, right.

01:06:10 But slipping down now, he'll be disappointed.

01:06:14 He'll be disappointed because the raw time --

01:06:16 Let's have a look there.

01:06:17 He had two touches, four seconds of raw time on the evening fastener anyway,

01:06:21 so that's okay.

01:06:22 Yeah, Nicolai Gessner says, "Guess what?

01:06:24 I've got a medal.

01:06:25 I've got a medal."

01:06:26 Oh, wow, yes, look at that.

01:06:27 What color is it going to be for the Frenchman?

01:06:30 So, Sideris Tasiades touched one of the poles with his chin.

01:06:33 I wonder whether -- I mean, let me say this from the outset.

01:06:38 He does rock.

01:06:40 He does rock the beard.

01:06:41 Look at that.

01:06:42 It's a good beard.

01:06:43 But I wonder if he had to shave that off this morning,

01:06:47 would he have avoided the touch?

01:06:50 Was it that tight?

01:06:51 Let's have a look here.

01:06:52 That's not the spot.

01:06:55 It was earlier on.

01:06:56 Earlier on, yeah.

01:06:57 The chin touch.

01:06:59 Anyway, that's life.

01:07:01 That's life.

01:07:02 You can't look good and not have to pay the price occasionally with the beard

01:07:07 touch on the gate for Sideris Tasiades.

01:07:11 But it's going to mean no medal today, no defending of the world title.

01:07:15 We are going to crown Brodie Crawford a brand-new world champion today.

01:07:18 We are far out.

01:07:19 And there's still two seconds.

01:07:21 We know there's two seconds out there, Ross, on that course.

01:07:23 Yep, absolutely.

01:07:24 And those two paddlers yet to come will know that.

01:07:26 It's all to play for.

01:07:28 Could we have a fairy tale?

01:07:30 Does anyone out there believe in fairy tales?

01:07:32 Those of you who do, stand up now because you want to cheer this man,

01:07:35 Gregor Hedwig, two-time Olympian, never been a world champion, though.

01:07:39 His run in the semifinals was awesome.

01:07:43 Absolutely awesome.

01:07:44 With a touch, he was still super fast.

01:07:46 Can he eliminate that mistake from the final and really lay down something?

01:07:51 Oh, it's going to be tight.

01:07:53 He's taking some risks through here.

01:07:55 Oh, my goodness.

01:07:56 Oh, no.

01:07:57 Oh, no.

01:07:59 Oh, that's unconventional, but it'll do.

01:08:02 But, oh, my goodness.

01:08:04 Gregor Hedwig's race has fallen apart, unfortunately for the pole,

01:08:11 which means -- let's call it now because I don't think there's anything he can do

01:08:16 from here to the end to make up that time.

01:08:18 I'm going to call Nicola Ghestin with at least a silver medal.

01:08:20 I'm going to call Paolo Cecquone from Italy as a medalist, Brodie.

01:08:25 I'm pretty sure that's his first senior medal as well.

01:08:27 So that's incredible.

01:08:28 Absolutely it is.

01:08:29 Congratulations.

01:08:30 Yeah, that's incredible for those two athletes.

01:08:35 So can Gregor Hedwig just finish off with a nice, tidy back end of the race, though?

01:08:41 But he'd be disappointed.

01:08:42 It'd be hard to stay focused here knowing that you've blown your chances.

01:08:46 Yeah, it's so hard to race.

01:08:48 The mentality in that final is so hard, like to realize how much risk to take.

01:08:54 And he just went a little bit past the limit there.

01:08:57 Really probably should have just aimed to do something similar.

01:08:59 He was pretty quick in that semi-final.

01:09:01 Yeah, but easier said than done.

01:09:04 It is easier said than done.

01:09:05 There's a reason why he's on the water and you and I are sitting in the cockpit with

01:09:08 both Brodie.

01:09:09 That's right.

01:09:10 Because we can talk a good talk.

01:09:11 Well, I can.

01:09:12 You can walk the walk as well occasionally, but we need to get you to do it a bit more often.

01:09:17 But there we go.

01:09:18 Gregor Hedwig crosses the line now in eighth position.

01:09:22 A bit disappointing, but the man who will be smiling will be Nicola Ghestin because

01:09:26 he has at least a silver medal which he can take home and declare customs when he lands

01:09:31 at Charles de Gaulle Airport.

01:09:33 That's right.

01:09:34 Yep.

01:09:35 Because they're pretty tight on that there at the moment.

01:09:38 But yeah, just getting himself into trouble.

01:09:40 Yeah, very late into that gate five and he was just trying to claw back the space that

01:09:45 he lost there.

01:09:46 But in slalom, it's a domino effect when you get this position.

01:09:50 That's the close one.

01:09:51 Oh, no, that's a 50.

01:09:53 I'm going to call it.

01:09:54 I'm calling it now.

01:09:56 I'm going to call that.

01:09:58 Yeah.

01:09:59 Huh?

01:10:00 You don't sound sure.

01:10:03 The 50?

01:10:04 Yeah.

01:10:05 I don't think so.

01:10:06 I think it's clean, Ross.

01:10:07 You're all right, man.

01:10:08 [LAUGHTER]

01:10:10 We might have to send you to SpexOvers.

01:10:12 I think so.

01:10:13 I think so.

01:10:14 Well, the judges are still looking at it, so let's just wait and see.

01:10:17 We're about to find out.

01:10:18 We're about to find out if I have any idea what I'm talking about.

01:10:21 But to me, I couldn't see the whole head going through there.

01:10:24 Righto.

01:10:25 Let's say we've given you the entree, folks.

01:10:27 Sit down.

01:10:28 Enjoy your main meal because we've got for you, as the plateau jour today, the Olympic

01:10:34 champion, Benny Savchuk.

01:10:36 Here we go.

01:10:37 Can Benny give us a bit of a classic masterclass?

01:10:41 He'll know he's got plenty of pace to win this race.

01:10:44 Yep.

01:10:45 Hasn't been a world champion since 2017.

01:10:47 It's been a long time.

01:10:49 Interestingly, and you can take this to the bank, Brodie Crawford, the women's world champion,

01:10:55 Mallory Franklin, was last a world champion in?

01:10:59 2017, correct.

01:11:01 History repeats itself.

01:11:02 When was Benjamin Savchuk the last time he was a world champion?

01:11:06 2017.

01:11:07 Correct.

01:11:08 What am I talking about, folks?

01:11:10 How exciting is that?

01:11:11 That was tight on that up left there, Ross.

01:11:13 Fire out.

01:11:14 Millimetre.

01:11:15 Look at this.

01:11:16 Look at this, folks.

01:11:17 We're having a piece of slalom paddling masterclass for you at home.

01:11:23 We hope you're enjoying this.

01:11:24 This is Benny Savchuk.

01:11:25 This is the Olympic champion.

01:11:26 He wants to get back on top of the podium.

01:11:29 Yep.

01:11:30 He's showing why he's the king of precision here.

01:11:32 So close to the gate.

01:11:33 Look at this.

01:11:34 He manages to suck in the six pack there, get it inside the gates.

01:11:38 Let's see the move here.

01:11:39 Look at this.

01:11:40 Oh, look at this.

01:11:41 He is styling this, Ross.

01:11:42 Look at the split.

01:11:43 Oh.

01:11:44 Benny Savchuk, 2017.

01:11:46 Oh, my goodness.

01:11:47 Give the judges some work to do.

01:11:49 I think he's okay.

01:11:50 Yeah, I think so.

01:11:51 Here we go, last two gates.

01:11:53 I think he's okay, but I'm not an expert, but it was tight.

01:11:57 Here we go.

01:11:58 That was good.

01:11:59 Here we go, folks.

01:12:00 I think we're going to have the new world champion returning to the top of the podium.

01:12:05 Can he finish it off?

01:12:06 98.5, baby.

01:12:07 It's going to be close.

01:12:08 Yes.

01:12:09 He's done it.

01:12:10 He's done it.

01:12:11 Unreal.

01:12:12 Benjamin Savchuk.

01:12:13 Olympic champion, now he's a world champion.

01:12:20 2017 was the last time he was there, and look what that means for this man.

01:12:27 He's got a dexterous next to his name, but surely, surely Brodie Crawford.

01:12:35 It was tight on that gate, a big drop at the bottom, but I think it was okay.

01:12:39 Oh, I think there's Luka Bozic, they're giving him a bit of a congratulatory hug.

01:12:45 Look at that.

01:12:46 We're going to have to wait and see.

01:12:48 I mean, I don't want to be the party pooper here, but they are looking at a 50.

01:12:55 And let's have a look, folks.

01:12:56 You be the judge at home.

01:12:59 If you were judging, folks at home, what would you give this coming up here,

01:13:03 this gate combination up here?

01:13:05 Here it is.

01:13:06 Go.

01:13:07 Benny Savchuk, does he get the whole head between the gates?

01:13:14 Here it is.

01:13:15 Have a look at home, folks.

01:13:16 What do you think?

01:13:18 It's clean, Ross.

01:13:20 He's called it.

01:13:21 100%.

01:13:22 Brodie Crawford has called it as clean.

01:13:25 Look at them.

01:13:26 Look at them there in ground control.

01:13:27 David Bowie and his lieutenants.

01:13:30 It's right there, buddy.

01:13:32 I think it's good.

01:13:33 Oh, my goodness.

01:13:34 Maybe the earlobe.

01:13:35 The earlobe is the one.

01:13:39 They've got to get that earlobe inside the gates.

01:13:42 Oh, we're going to have a little bit of tension here, folks.

01:13:44 This is what it's all about.

01:13:46 Get yourself another stiff drink.

01:13:47 Nope.

01:13:48 The asterisk has gone off.

01:13:49 He's your world champion.

01:13:51 Wow.

01:13:52 Benny Savchuk, take a bow, my friend.

01:13:54 You are back on top of the podium.

01:13:56 Oh, he can hardly walk.

01:13:57 The man can hardly stand up.

01:13:59 He's put so much into that.

01:14:02 Yeah, what a result.

01:14:03 Two-time world champion, Olympic champion.

01:14:05 That's rarefied air, Ross.

01:14:06 That's not a bad CV, is it?

01:14:08 Yeah, you're in some serious discussions with that CV.

01:14:11 Certainly are.

01:14:13 And thumbs up there.

01:14:14 Come on, Benny, get over to the interview position.

01:14:16 We want to hear your words of wisdom after you've become a world champion

01:14:20 with a raw time of 97.4.

01:14:24 That's not -- by the way, not that I'm gloating or anything like that,

01:14:28 but they're still looking at Gregor Hedwig.

01:14:30 They've heard that you and I are at loggerheads on this one,

01:14:33 so they've sent that off to forensics.

01:14:38 That's a long review, that one.

01:14:40 It is a long one.

01:14:41 It most certainly is.

01:14:42 All right, let's hear from our world champion,

01:14:44 Benjamin Savchuk from Slovenia.

01:14:46 Congratulations.

01:14:47 You're the 2023 world champion.

01:14:49 What does this mean for you?

01:14:51 It means a lot.

01:14:55 And without the words now, it's amazing,

01:14:57 because it was a lot of the pressure on the start when I was starting on the

01:15:03 last position.

01:15:04 And I'm really happy to do it once again, to be a world champion.

01:15:10 And thanks to everybody who supports me.

01:15:13 And I'm really happy.

01:15:16 What was going through your head at the start line when you were waiting up

01:15:19 there, knowing you were world champion already?

01:15:21 Yeah, well, I was just focusing on the gates.

01:15:27 I must not do any touch on the gates and on the line.

01:15:32 And I was just focusing.

01:15:33 And I think to myself, yeah, go now or never.

01:15:40 You did it, so congratulations.

01:15:43 Yeah, thanks again.

01:15:44 Thank you.

01:15:47 It's always nice when nice people win world titles, isn't it, bro?

01:15:50 Yeah, some raw emotion there.

01:15:52 It was pretty good to see.

01:15:53 He was right, though, he did mention starting last in that final is so

01:15:58 difficult.

01:15:59 All the pressure.

01:16:00 Everyone's going, you're the last man to come down the course.

01:16:02 And he nailed it.

01:16:04 He's got nerves of steel, though.

01:16:06 He's got ice in his veins, Brody.

01:16:09 He just sits there and gets the job done and took a couple of risks,

01:16:13 as we saw, as we called in the commentary.

01:16:15 There are a couple of stages there where he really put everything on the

01:16:17 line.

01:16:18 But winners are grinners, and he just did what he had to do.

01:16:23 Interesting, let's look at the final standings there.

01:16:27 And the top seven athletes all posted clean runs.

01:16:30 The second fastest time on the course today was Benjamin Savsek's

01:16:34 teammate, Luka Bozic, who still, though,

01:16:38 his raw time wasn't quick enough to knock off his teammate,

01:16:40 Benny Savsek.

01:16:41 But that's a bit of a feather in the cap for the Slovenians,

01:16:44 the two fastest raw times.

01:16:46 Nicolas Ghezdin from France takes the silver medal.

01:16:49 Paolo Ceccion, he is a world championship bronze medalist.

01:16:53 He'd be pretty happy with that tonight, wouldn't he?

01:16:55 It would be.

01:16:56 Awesome result from him.

01:16:57 First senior world medal.

01:16:59 Yeah, comes down first, lays it down,

01:17:02 puts the pressure on the rest of the field.

01:17:04 So, so good to see.

01:17:06 And does it mean anything, Brody,

01:17:08 to go off to an Olympic Games now as the reigning world champion?

01:17:11 I think for sure.

01:17:12 I think it gives you confidence.

01:17:14 I mean, you've just proven you're the best man out there.

01:17:17 And everyone knows it.

01:17:18 So you've got to back yourself in when you start at the Olympic Games

01:17:21 that you've got to be up and about and close to the medals.

01:17:25 Basically, you have a licence to stretch your stuff, don't you?

01:17:29 You have a licence to poke your chest out and say, hey,

01:17:32 I'm the world champion.

01:17:34 If you want to beat me for this Olympic gold medal, good luck.

01:17:37 Yeah, for sure.

01:17:38 And you need a bit of luck, I think, to beat Benny Savsek.

01:17:40 He's that quick.

01:17:41 Yeah, he's paddling really, really well.

01:17:43 What a quality final we've had, folks.

01:17:46 We hope you've enjoyed it.

01:17:47 We certainly enjoyed bringing it for you.

01:17:49 In a moment, we are going to bring you the medal presentation.

01:17:53 And there'll be some pretty excited--you can see already,

01:17:55 the British school kids, well, they're excited for two reasons.

01:17:58 One is they got to miss out on school today, and that's always exciting.

01:18:02 But make sure when you go home, kids, you do your maths homework

01:18:05 because that's very important.

01:18:06 Maths is important.

01:18:07 But they also got to see a hometown gold and silver medal.

01:18:11 So they're getting in some moves early as part of the celebration,

01:18:15 which we'll bring to you in just a moment.

01:18:17 So great day for the home fans, great day for Slovenia

01:18:21 with Benny Savsek taking the gold medal.

01:18:25 While we're waiting, Brodie, we might just recap where we stand

01:18:33 at the moment with the Olympic qualifications,

01:18:36 bearing in mind, as I said, there's a little bit of conjecture

01:18:39 going on at the moment.

01:18:40 We've got a little bit of drama, which I'll spell out for you in a moment.

01:18:44 But if you want to write this down at home,

01:18:50 these are the countries that we believe have Olympic quotas today.

01:18:54 Slovenia, Poland, Germany--this is in the men's, by the way--

01:18:59 Slovenia, Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Great Britain,

01:19:04 France, Italy, Ireland, courtesy of Robert Hendrik, Croatia,

01:19:15 Matija Maranic, USA, Casey Eichfeldt.

01:19:20 That's 11.

01:19:22 Now, the drama is here.

01:19:24 The 12th quota.

01:19:26 At the moment, it's a tie between Thomas Kochlin of Switzerland

01:19:31 and Luis Fernandez from Spain, who both posted exactly the same time.

01:19:37 That is crazy.

01:19:38 It's so rare in our sport that you see ties.

01:19:42 However, we've seen a couple this weekend.

01:19:44 I know.

01:19:45 It's crazy.

01:19:46 It is crazy.

01:19:47 It'll be very interesting to see how they split this one.

01:19:49 I'm glad that I don't have to make those decisions.

01:19:51 That's right.

01:19:52 Because that's going to be a tough one.

01:19:54 Wow.

01:19:55 For that final quota position.

01:19:57 Mind you, bear in mind that Spain is the next in line

01:20:02 for the European qualification anyway.

01:20:04 So no matter what happens, they will get a quota.

01:20:09 But it's just a matter of who gets the quota here today.

01:20:12 So that's the situation in the men.

01:20:13 If you'd like me to tell you, let me tell you the current state of play

01:20:19 for the women, for the top 12.

01:20:22 Write these down at home.

01:20:24 Europe, the United States, Australia, Great Britain, the Czech Republic,

01:20:29 Germany, Slovakia, France, Brazil, I think Spain, and Italy, and Ukraine.

01:20:46 Wow.

01:20:47 Is that right?

01:20:48 I think so.

01:20:49 Look at that.

01:20:50 I think that's--

01:20:51 Only one double up.

01:20:53 Yeah.

01:20:54 In the top 12.

01:20:55 Yeah.

01:20:56 Wow, yeah.

01:20:57 Compared to the men, it went right down to 20th place for those 12 nations.

01:21:00 Was that 13th place it went to?

01:21:02 13th place for the women.

01:21:03 The two Brits.

01:21:04 Yeah, two Brits in there, and the rest were all single countries.

01:21:06 Is that right?

01:21:07 Yes, I think so.

01:21:08 That is correct.

01:21:10 All right.

01:21:11 Now, we've got a bit of a break now, I think.

01:21:13 We've got 10 minutes or so until the medal ceremony.

01:21:15 We will bring you the medal ceremony, but we might take a little bit of a break

01:21:18 between now and the medal ceremony.

01:21:22 Brodie, thank you so much for doing some commentary for us this afternoon.

01:21:26 We hope you've enjoyed it.

01:21:27 We hope you've enjoyed our coverage at home.

01:21:31 But now might be a good time to go for an ad break or to go off and maybe just top up,

01:21:34 maybe just check that the kids have eaten their dinner or that they're asleep

01:21:38 or that they're off getting ready for school, whatever they're supposed to be doing

01:21:41 at this time of the day.

01:21:43 And come back and join us in around 10 minutes from now,

01:21:46 and we will bring you the medal ceremony.

01:21:50 Thank you, Brodie.

01:21:51 Thank you.

01:21:52 Keep going.

01:21:59 Sarah has handled a victory.

01:22:06 Sarah has a jump in the air as she can.

01:22:09 Are you waiting for me?

01:22:11 Can everyone see Sarah?

01:22:15 Yes, Sarah.

01:22:18 Oh, my goodness, amazing.

01:22:19 Sarah is part of a squad that has class from New York in 2012.

01:22:25 I like that a lot.

01:22:26 I like that a lot.

01:22:27 This is iconic.

01:22:29 I think all of you over here 100% agree with me to hear you when you're listening

01:22:35 to the medal or listening to the advice.

01:22:38 Come on over.

01:22:40 Right, next game, four hours.

01:22:41 There's 20 of you, and we're going to have to be lovely.

01:22:43 Are we ready to play?

01:22:50 Come on, Brady.

01:22:56 Three, two, one.

01:23:02 That's it.

01:23:05 Remember, you want to avoid the boulders.

01:23:11 Timbo, I see you.

01:23:15 And love, Len.

01:23:18 Some of the names you come up with.

01:23:23 Oh, straight in there.

01:23:26 Yeah.

01:23:27 What do we learn from this?

01:23:29 I've got my own playing pad, guys.

01:23:48 DJ, you've been playing all day.

01:23:51 You're going to come through this room in your time to shine.

01:23:57 Make it two, one, come on, baby.

01:24:00 Oh, yeah, that was a wide line.

01:24:02 You were putting up that six million.

01:24:05 Two millions.

01:24:12 Let's go.

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01:34:20 >> Ladies and gentlemen, the medal ceremony of the women's canoe singles will begin.

01:34:30 (Music)

01:34:40 (Music)

01:34:50 (Music)

01:35:00 (Music)

01:35:10 >> Ladies and gentlemen, we present the medalists for the women's canoe singles.

01:35:20 The bronze medalist is Jessica Fox of Australia.

01:35:40 (Music)

01:35:50 (Music)

01:36:00 (Music)

01:36:20 >> The silver medalist is Kimberly Woods of Great Britain.

01:36:40 (Music)

01:37:00 >> The bronze medalist and world champion, Mallory Franklin, Great Britain.

01:37:20 (Music)

01:37:40 >> The bronze medalist is Jessica Fox of Australia.

01:38:00 (Music)

01:38:20 (Music)

01:38:40 >> These have been three very consistent female canoe paddlers.

01:38:52 Certainly worthy podium finishes today.

01:38:54 Mallory Franklin, by nature, quite a shy person.

01:39:00 She would be trying to keep her emotions in check here, I'm sure.

01:39:06 But she's done a great job.

01:39:10 She's won the national anthem.

01:39:14 And a great result there.

01:39:16 One and two for Great Britain.

01:39:18 The bronze medal going to Jessica Fox.

01:39:20 She did post the fastest time on the course.

01:39:24 But she had a single gate touch.

01:39:26 Just a little touch.

01:39:27 It wasn't a big one.

01:39:29 But just a single gate touch.

01:39:31 And a great result.

01:39:36 And a third.

01:39:37 But that is canoe slalom racing.

01:39:39 Those are the risks you take in our sport.

01:39:42 And because of that, we have Mallory Franklin sitting there with a gold medal around her neck.

01:39:47 And Kimberly Woods the silver.

01:39:49 And Jessica Fox the bronze.

01:39:51 Great result for our sport today.

01:39:53 The wind is starting to pick up.

01:39:55 Doesn't matter.

01:39:56 There's no more racing to happen today.

01:39:58 They're sitting behind the shed.

01:39:59 They're ready to rumble.

01:40:00 They're ready to get up there and accept their honors.

01:40:04 Good crowd down here.

01:40:05 You can see they've been patient today, waiting around, enjoying the sunshine.

01:40:11 Getting a little bit cooler now.

01:40:12 But the weather forecast for the next couple of days is pretty good, I think.

01:40:15 I don't think there's any forecast of rain.

01:40:17 So they'll be happy about that.

01:40:21 Certainly the rain has been annoying.

01:40:25 But they'll be looking forward to having a good day racing tomorrow and then again on Sunday.

01:40:29 All right.

01:40:30 The important sounding music is kicking up again.

01:40:34 Which means it's time to crown our men's C1 world champion silver medalist and bronze medalist for 2023.

01:40:45 Ladies and gentlemen, the medal ceremony of the men's canoe sailors will begin.

01:41:01 [ Music ]

01:41:17 >> Well, that was a bit of an anticlimax, wasn't it?

01:41:20 The music was there.

01:41:21 It's very important sounding music.

01:41:23 And the official announcement was there that we're going to -- here we go.

01:41:28 We're going to have another go at it.

01:41:29 Let's see if we get it right this time.

01:41:31 [ Music ]

01:41:47 >> Ladies and gentlemen, the medal ceremony of the men's canoe singles will begin.

01:41:54 [ Music ]

01:42:23 >> Ladies and gentlemen, we present the medalists for the men's canoe singles.

01:42:33 The medals will be presented by Paul Osborne, chair of the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority,

01:42:42 accompanied by the representative of the National Federation of Slovenia.

01:43:00 And the bronze medalist is Paolo Ceccon of Italy.

01:43:10 [ Music ]

01:43:36 The silver medalist is Nicolas Gesta of France.

01:43:43 [ Music ]

01:44:11 The gold medalist and world champion, Benjamin Savsek, Slovenia.

01:44:20 [ Applause ]

01:44:30 [ Music ]

01:44:51 >> Ladies and gentlemen, please, if you are able to, rise for the national anthem of Slovenia.

01:44:59 [ Music ]

01:45:27 [ Music ]

01:45:39 [ Music ]

01:46:03 >> Ladies and gentlemen, please show your recognition for the 2023 ICF Canoe Salon men's canoe singles world championship.

01:46:15 >> Congratulations to Benny Savsek, Nicolas Gesta, and Paolo Ceccon from Italy.

01:46:21 They are your gold, silver, and bronze medalists.

01:46:24 That is your world championship treble.

01:46:27 >> Congratulations to all of the men's and women's canoes.

01:46:33 You are your world championship trio standing on top of the podium right now and celebrating what has been a great day for them.

01:46:41 Not only are they world champion silver medalists and bronze medalists, but they have also locked away those all-important Olympic quotas for Paris next year.

01:46:50 Double reason for them to celebrate tonight.

01:46:52 I'm sure they will.

01:46:54 >> We have had a great time at home.

01:46:57 We have certainly enjoyed bringing you coverage from today's racing.

01:47:00 We are looking forward to bringing you the same quality of racing tomorrow when we bring for you the men's and women's kayak finals.

01:47:09 There is the standings on the leader board at the moment.

01:47:12 It is the overall medal tally and Great Britain on top of the ladder.

01:47:17 We are not done yet.

01:47:23 It is day four of the world championship.

01:47:27 (music)

01:47:50 (music)

01:48:10 (music)

01:48:30 (music)

01:48:50 (music)

Canoe: Finals / 2023 ICF Canoe-Kayak Slalom World Championships & Olympic Qualifier Lee Valley UK

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