Canoeists Fernando Pimenta and Teresa Portela qualified this Thursday for the final of the World Championships in Germany in the K1 1,000 and K1 500 meters respectively, as did Kevin Santos in the K1 200 and Norberto Mourão in the VL2.
“It’s a very positive balance. In 15 competitions we only failed to reach the semi-finals in one competition. We also secured some finals and all the objectives we had outlined remain open”Ricardo Machado, Vice President of the High Performance Canoe Federation, rejoiced in statements to Lusa.
Looking for the scarce six Olympic places allocated in the final, Pimenta and Portela showed class and opened up good prospects to achieve their goal for Paris 2024 in Duisburg.
Pimenta, bronze in Tokyo2020, led his run from the first to the last meter, set himself up in 3:28.097 and beat the Swede Matin Nathell, the only one to follow him to the final.
On Saturday at 11:11 am Lisbon time, Pimenta, runner-up in the world title, will try to keep up the tradition of international medals, in a match worth six tickets to the Olympic Games.
Teresa Portela knew she could only access two of the three places in the final as multi-time New Zealand Olympic champion Lisa Carrington is long undefeated, winning the series in 1,47,216 minutes, putting Portela about second and half, with the Portuguese woman achieved a margin of more than half a second for the Serbian Milica Novakovic.
Teresa Portela will be driving on track three on Saturday, with the final taking place at 11:21 am.
Kevin Santos could not defend the 2022 European title in the 200m K1 – won by his teammate Messias Baptista – but he will have the opportunity to seek an unprecedented world podium and qualify with a third place finish in his semi-final.
Also in the Olympic distance, the C2 500 meters of the young Inês Penetra and Beatriz Fernandes still do not have the pace of the fastest in the world and cannot keep up with the pace of China, Cuba and Germany, being in fifth place, so it goes to the final B.
In the continental play-off phase, in 2024, the duo will receive two more ‘tickets’ in Hungary with which they hope to play for Paris2024.
Outside the Olympic program, Kevin Santos completed his K1 race in the 200 meters in 34.334, surpassed only by Spain’s Carlos Garrote and Georgia’s Badri Kavelashvili: he will come into lane eight on Saturday, at 10:51 am.
In the adapted canoeing, Norberto Mourão moved up to second place, in 53.012, only advanced by the Hungarian Robert Suba: on Saturday he will start in lane two, with six places at stake.
“Friday will be an extremely important day, with six semi-finals with the possibility of securing some important finals, namely the K4 500. If we succeed, most of our objectives will already be achieved,” said Ricardo Machado.
The K4 500 João Ribeiro, Messias Baptista, Kevin Santos and Emanuel Silva and Francisca Laia, Teresa Portela, Joana Vasconcelos and Maria Rei have the World Cup as their only chance of qualifying for the Olympics, so reaching the final is essential.
Source: DN
