2021 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships – Women's K1 explained

Event:	Women's K1
Competition:	2021 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships
Venue:	Čunovo Water Sports Centre
Location:	Bratislava, Slovakia
Dates:	23–25 September 2021
Competitors:	58
Nations:	29
Gold:	Ricarda Funk
Silver:	Elena Apel
Bronze:	Kimberley Woods
Gold Nation:	GER
Silver Nation:	GER
Bronze Nation:	GBR
Next:	2022

The Women's K1 at the 2021 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships took place on 23 and 25 September 2021 at the Čunovo Water Sports Centre in Bratislava.^[1] It was the 41st edition of the event, and 58 athletes from 29 nations competed.

Background

Eva Terčelj of Slovenia entered as the reigning world champion, having taken the title in 2019 in La Seu d'Urgell.^[2] Jess Fox was the World No. 1^[3] and came into the championship having won the 2021 World Cup overall title and the last three World Cups.^[4] Ricarda Funk was the Olympic Champion from Tokyo and had the opportunity to become the first athlete to win the Olympics and World Championships in the same calendar year.^{[5] [6]} World number 3 Corinna Kuhnle was also a favourite, as the winner of the 2019 World Cup round on this course and having become European Champion earlier this year.^[7]

3-time Olympic medallist Maialen Chourraut and World No. 5 Stefanie Horn were notable absentees from the field.^[8] Leading into the event, Jana Dukátová announced her retirement, ending a 25-year career that saw her become a three-time World Champion: 2006 in K1; 2010 in C1; and 2011 in K1 team.^[9]

Competition format

The women's K1 event in canoe slalom uses a three-round format with heats, a semifinal and final. Athletes complete up to two runs in the heats. In the first heat, the 20 fastest women qualify automatically for the semifinal, whilst the rest complete another run in the repêchage second heat for a further 10 qualification positions. The final rank of non-qualifying athletes is determined by their second run score. Athletes start in the reverse order of their heats position in the semifinal and complete a single run, with the top 10 advancing to the final. The athlete with the best time in the single-run final is awarded gold.^[10]

Penalties of 2 or 50 seconds are incurred for infractions such as missing a gate, touching a gate, or not negotiating gates in numerical order. A team may request up to one review of a penalty per boat in the heats or semifinals phases, with no enquiries considered in the finals.^[10]

Schedule

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)

Date	Time	Round
Thursday, 23 September 2021
	09:00	Heats Run 1
	11:50	Heats Run 2
Saturday, 25 September 2021
	09:03	Semifinal
	12:03	Final

Results

Tokyo Olympic bronze-medallist Jessica Fox topped the first heat with a clean 89.18 ahead of Olympic Champion Ricarda Funk. Camille Prigent won the second heat with the fourth-fastest time of the day. 2016 Olympic silver-medallist Luuka Jones finished 14th in the second heat, missing out on a spot in the semifinal.^[11]

Despite 4 seconds of penalties, Funk topped the semifinal ahead of Corinna Kuhnle and Fiona Pennie. Fox initially set the fastest time but was awarded a 50-second penalty on downstream gate 12, placing 25th. Reigning Champion Eva Terčelj also received a 50-second penalty, finishing 26th.^[12] This left Kuhnle as the only previous World Champion (2010 and 2011) in the final.

Funk won the 2021 K1W World Championship in a time of 94.80, including a 2-second penalty. Fellow countrywoman Elena Apel won silver, forming the first quinella in this event since Angelika Bahmann and Petra Krol finished 1–2 in 1977. Great Britain's Kimberley Woods won bronze, 3 days after winning the teams title and just a week after being involved in a car accident whilst preparing for the event.^[11] Funk's victory marked the first time any canoe slalom athlete became Olympic and World Champion in the same calendar year.^{[6] [12]}

Penalties are included in the time shown. The fastest time in each round is shown in bold.

Rank	Bib	Canoeist	Nation	Heats						Semifinal^[13]	Final^[14]
				Run 1^[15]			Run 2^[16]
				Time		Order	Time		Order	Time		Order	Tme		Order
	2	Ricarda Funk		89.99	0	2	-			98.21	4	1	94.80	2	1
	19			91.99	0	4	-			101.45	2	7	97.31	0	2
	14	Kimberley Woods		96.90	0	16	-			102.46	6	8	97.90	2	3
4	3			92.85	0	7	-			98.48	2	2	98.60	4	4
5	17			97.88	2	24	91.51	0	2	99.05	0	3	99.84	4	5
6	23			100.02	2	31	95.23	0	6	100.96	0	5	101.29	2	6
7	11			97.27	0	18	-			101.02	4	6	104.10	0	7
8	12			95.32	0	11	-			103.24	2	9	109.17	8	8
9	15			97.74	4	23	96.60	0	9	103.71	4	10	148.94	50	9
10	8			98.58	0	26	91.32	0	1	99.17	2	4	207.28	100	10
11	20			95.63	0	13	-			104.91	4	11	did not advance
12	5			96.93	2	17	-			106.57	0	12
13	32			152.63	52	48	97.11	0	10	106.60	2	13
14	27	Ajda Novak		97.37	0	19	-			106.74	4	14
15	7			95.21	2	10	-			107.28	2	15
16	24		Australia	96.42	0	15	-			107.65	4	16
17	30			94.75	0	9	-			108.49	2	17
18	21			95.65	2	14	-			108.72	6	18
19	13	Eliška Mintálová		91.29	0	3	-			109.16	0	19
20	29			107.81	4	39	94.97	0	5	111.32	2	20
21	9			92.76	2	5	-			112.34	2	21
22	22			98.53	2	29	94.15	2	4	115.62	4	22
23	10	Ana Sátila		92.80	2	6	-			118.63	2	23
24	26			110.27	2	43	96.21	0	7	120.26	0	24
25	1			89.18	0	1	-			146.47	50	25
26	4	Eva Terčelj		95.56	0	12	-			148.54	50	26
27	16			97.61	4	21	93.41	0	3	154.15	50	27
28	48			97.55	0	20	-			161.75	52	28
29	18			93.20	0	8	-			163.33	50	29
30	40			98.48	0	25	96.49	0	8	163.57	50	30
31	31			152.43	50	47	97.30	2	11	did not advance
32	28			99.71	0	29	97.69	4	12
33	42			99.62	2	28	97.72	0	13
34	6			105.48	4	38	98.01	2	14
35	36	Hannah Thomas		103.90	0	34	98.15	2	15
36	39			114.91	8	45	98.57	0	16
37	25	Laia Sorribes		97.65	0	22	99.46	0	17
38	34	Chiara Sabattini		99.91	2	30	99.83	0	18
39	33			108.62	4	41	99.84	2	19
40	38	Courtney Williams		203.73	104	51	100.51	0	20
41	53	Olatz Arregui		104.89	2	37	100.90	4	21
42	51	Katja Bengeri		104.77	4	36	104.10	2	22
43	35	Omira Estácia Neta		103.27	2	32	107.54	4	23
44	41	Monika Mitasikova		113.91	0	44	108.09	2	24
45	44	Chang Chu-Han		108.91	2	42	108.64	4	25
46	49	Marcella Altman		108.09	0	40	110.29	6	26
47	52	Aleksandra Stach		158.37	52	49	115.15	2	27
48	50	Lea Baldoni		103.54	2	33	118.09	6	28
49	57	Wu Ting-I		372.30	254	57	130.03	4	29
50	45	Sara Timea Seprenyi		227.16	106	52	132.03	4	30
51	37	Naemi Brändle		103.94	0	35	161.74	52	31
52	47	Iisa Maenpaa		143.55	4	46	180.26	56	32
53	46	Roxana Razeghian		382.35	256	58	184.05	56	33
54	55	Veronika Salaseviciute-Turbinova		197.70	16	50	233.63	68	34
55	43	Maartje Otten		298.11	202	55	265.03	156	35
56	54	Constanza Nobis		255.81	56	53	383.23	210	36
57	58	Iris Sommernes		352.90	154	56	390.43	156	37
58	56	Florencia Aguirre Gonzalez		262.85	110	54		256	38

Notes and References

1. News: September 22, 2021 . France ends Slovakia canoe dominance . ICF Media . en . 23 September 2021.
2. Web site: Women's K1 results . 25 September 2021.
3. Web site: ICF Canoe Slalom World Rankings . 25 September 2021.
4. Web site: 2021 World Cup Final Ranking . CanoeSlalom.net . 25 September 2021.
5. Web site: Results (Tokyo Final). 25 September 2021. Olympics. ja. 28 July 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210728002722/https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/olympic-games/resOG2020-/pdf/OG2020-/CSL/OG2020-_CSL_C74_CSLWK1----------------------------.pdf. dead.
6. News: September 21, 2021 . Will slalom history be made in Bratislava? . ICF Media . en . 25 September 2021.
7. Web site: Official Results (Bratislava 2019) . 25 September 2021.
8. Web site: Women's Kayak - Heats Run 1 Start List . 26 September 2021.
9. News: September 22, 2021 . Jana Dukátová si to na domácej vode plánuje užiť [Jana Dukátová plans to enjoy it on domestic water] ]. Sport Aktuality . sk . 26 September 2021.
10. Web site: ICF Canoe Slalom Competition Rules 2019 . 2021-09-23.
11. News: September 23, 2021 . It takes more than a car crash to bring Woods down . ICF Media . en . 24 September 2021.
12. News: September 25, 2021 . Funk makes canoe history in Bratislava . ICF Media . en . 26 September 2021.
13. Web site: Women's Kayak - Semifinal Results List . 25 September 2021.
14. Web site: Women's Kayak - Final Results List . 25 September 2021.
15. Web site: Women's Kayak - Heats Run 1 Results List . 25 September 2021.
16. Web site: Women's Kayak - Heats Run 2 Results List . 25 September 2021.