The three crews of the Portuguese canoe team that made their debut in the World Cup Olympic 500 meters races in Germany on Thursday advanced to the semi-finals, a leg of the race won by 14 of the 15 Portuguese crews in Duisburg.
João Ribeiro and Messias Baptista, who have not fallen out of the top-5 at European and World Championships in the last two seasons, in the K2 500 meters, were second in their series, in 1.30.781 minutes, 55 hundredths of a second of the duo from Canada, in a calm race.
In the semi-finals on Saturday, Serbia and the Czech Republic are among the toughest rivals in the battle for one of three places to reach the final, in which only the strongest six guarantee Paris 2024.
Joana Vasconcelos and Francisca Laia finished the K2 500 in third place, with 1.44.979, behind Germany and Ukraine, and in the semifinals, also on Saturday, New Zealand, Sweden and Belgium should be the toughest obstacles on their way to the medal regatta, also with six ‘tickets’ for the Olympic Games.
In the canoes, Bruno Afonso and Marco Apura also passed the C2 500 in third place, in 1.44.167, surpassed only by Poland and France.
On Saturday, Italy, the Czech Republic and Romania will be among the toughest opponents of the Portuguese duo on their way to the final, in which the top eight advance to Paris2024: Bruno and Marco were one place behind Tokyo2020, in the continental round. away from Europe.
This afternoon in Duisburg the team will compete in the first semi-finals, namely Fernando Pimenta in the K1 1,000 meters, Teresa Portela in the K1 500 and Inês Penetra and Beatriz Fernandes in the C2 500, all Olympic specialties.
Outside the Olympic program there is also the semi-final of the K1 200 in which Kevin Santos became European champion in 2022 and succeeded the non-candidate Messias Baptista without a partner in the K4 500 this year.
Also noteworthy is Norberto Mourão in adapted canoeing, in VL2, a category in which he won a bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
The World Championships bring together about 2,000 canoeists from 95 countries.
Source: DN
