Jiri Prskavec takes World Slalom K1 crown

Jiri Prskavec completed a double for the Czech Republic in the K1 class following Katerina Kudejova’s victory in the women’s final on Saturday at the 2015 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships.

An exhausted Prskavec said, “So happy that I finally made such a good run in the finals of the World Championships and I look forward next year. The thing I’m most happy about is that I was racing here very well from the start. After my very good semifinal run I was starting from second. You know, to handle the pressure and to make a clean run that is good enough to win that’s the dream and that’s what I’m most happy about today.”

Poland’s Mateusz Polaczyk, who was fastest in the final but collected a two second penalty, secured second place on the podium.

“It’s a funny situation because here in 2012 in the Olympics I finished fourth and last year in the World Cup here I finished third and now in the World Championships I was second,” 

“So next time I should win here!”

The 2014 U23 World Champion, Michal Smolen of the USA took bronze.

“I found the course was even harder than it looked here at the Olympic Games and today we saw a lot of people with amazing runs get to the bottom and fall apart,” said the 22-year-old.

“For me to hold it together showed to me great improvements in my strategy so it’s good to come out with a medal.”