Fernando Pimenta considered this Saturday that it was a “test of overcoming” the one that dictated his third world title in the K1 1,000 Olympic meters, in Germany, additional motivation to his ambition in Paris 2024.
“I’m very happy. It’s extra motivation. I can’t forget that I just stamped my passport for Paris 2024 in a spectacular way. Not only because of qualifying, but because of the world title, which is dedicated.” to all the Portuguese who support us”, he said, after conquering his 133rd international podium.
On track four, Pimenta, the bronze medalist at Tokyo 2020, completed the race in 3.27.712 minutes, beating the Hungarian Adam Varga, who took silver, by 0.429 hundredths of a second, and the German Jakob Thordsen, medalist of bronze, at 0.591.
“I’m not saying it was my best race, it was an improvement test. I’ve had very good races and my coach yesterday (Friday) even told me that it was one of my best in the K1 500 meters (bronze). Many times we can’t evaluate only because of the color of the medal, although that weighs a lot”, he illustrated.
After winning the bronze medal in Tokyo 2020, Pimenta said that he dreamed of collecting the three Olympic metals, which is why he lacks gold: in London 2012, he won silver in the K2 1000 meters, teaming up with Emanuel Silva.
“It’s a double-edged sword. It can be more pressure for training, not for the competition itself. We have to work with our best results of all years. Every day, give our best. Get there with the world title It is completely the same. If the world champion came out a few meters ahead, it would undoubtedly be excellent, but we all start from the same line”, he devalued.
In the year until Paris 2024, he wants to be able to have “some training conditions” that he lacks, one of which is being able to train for long periods with elite athletes.
He was also pleased to be one of the few international athletes with three gold medals at this Olympic event, after Montemor-o-Velho in 2018 and Copenhagen in 2021.
Pimenta thus adds two medals in this World Cup in Germany, gold in the K1 1,000 and bronze in the K1 500, and on Sunday he will also compete in the K1 5000 race, in which he has been a regular podium finisher.
Source: TSF
