There were a total of three World Cup stages held in Szeged (Hungary), Brandenburg (Germany), and Montreal (Canada). In the last stage in Montreal, as many as 671 kayakers and canoeists from 64 countries competed. Medals were won by representatives of 23 countries, including Lithuania.
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The Lithuanian team was represented by four crews. Three of them managed to reach the A final among the top nine.
Artūras Seja added to the Lithuanian team’s medal tally. In the men’s single kayak 200 m final, A. Seja completed the distance in 35.85 seconds and won bronze. The Lithuanian lost by only 0.07 seconds to the winners, Serbian Marko Dragosavljević and Italian Andrea Di Liberto, who posted the same time.
A. Seja also lost to the gold medalists on the way to the final. In the qualifying heat, A. Seja took second place behind the Serbian, and in the semifinal, behind the Italian. A total of 32 kayakers started in this event.
“This season, I only managed to get among the prize-winners on the fifth attempt. Maybe I learned from mistakes and had a good race. I gave my maximum and it went very well,” said A. Seja, who led the distance for a long time. “At the end of the distance, I felt a headwind gust coming and wondered if I had enough strength or not. I was a little short of first place, but enough for a prize.”
In the men’s double kayak 500 m race, Simonas Maldonis and Andrejus Olijnikas took 7th place. In the final, the Lithuanian double crossed the finish line in 1 minute 28.14 seconds and lost to the winners, Serbs M. Dragosavljević and Žarko Jakovljević, by 1.47 seconds. A total of 42 doubles competed in this event.
“After each start, improvement is felt because the more starts you have, the less nervous you are. With each start, confidence grows,” said Simonas Maldonis, who replaced his brother Mindaugas, who was recovering from an injury in early June, in the double kayak. “We had enough energy. At the end, we really got into the rhythm and worked well in the final. With each start, it gets better.”
The double canoe, paddled by Henrik Žustautas and Vadimas Korobovas, also reached the final. The Lithuanians completed the 500 m distance in 1 minute 40.25 seconds and took 9th place. They lost to the winners, Hungarians Kristóf Kollar and István Juhász, by 3.36 seconds. A total of 31 canoes competed in this event.
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“From the qualifying heat, we tried a different tactic and tried to paddle the first 300 meters faster than usual. We succeeded well in the qualifiers, and even better in the semifinals because after 300 meters we managed to finish well,” commented V. Korobovas. “As for the final race, we still need to sort out our thoughts. We will have to watch and analyze, but the race was definitely not what we expected.”
Unfortunately, the Lithuanian four-man kayak, paddled by S. Maldonis, Viktoras Čaplinskis, Ignas Navakauskas, and A. Seja, did not make it to the A final. In the 500 m semifinal, the Lithuanians finished in 1 minute 22.89 seconds and took 4th place. They were only 0.12 seconds away from 3rd place and a ticket to the A final.
The Lithuanian four-man kayak was unbeatable in the B final (1 minute 22.52 seconds) and finished 10th overall. A total of 30 four-man kayaks participated in this prestigious event.
“It is always hardest to win the B final. It is easier to get into the top five in the A final than to win the B final, where there are many hungry competitors. Everyone wanted to fight for Olympic points until the end,” said A. Seja. “Until now, in all international competitions this season, the four-man kayak fought in the A final, but now we changed continents, had many competitions, and maybe energy started to run out a bit. I exhausted myself like never before in the qualifying heat. The semifinal was better, and in the B final, we got into the rhythm and started paddling as we always can. But that was already the B final.”
In the three World Cup stages this year, the Lithuanian team won 3 medals – 1 silver and 2 bronze.
In the first stage in Szeged, Simonas Maldonis won silver in the men’s single kayak 200 m, and the four-man kayak won bronze medals.
This year, kayakers and canoeists have one more, but the most important start of the season left. The World Championships will be held from August 26-30 in Poznań, neighboring Poland.
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