After 3 days of exciting races with more than 650 participants from 64 nations in total, the Junior World Championships ended this afternoon with the 500 m finals and semi-finals.

There were no big surprises as to the top 3 nations on the overall medals table. Hungary took the lead with 5 gold medals and 16 medals in total, followed by Germany with 4 gold medals and a total of 10 medals and Russia with 3 gold medals and a total of 8 medals.

A maybe unexpected positioning was number four on the medal’s table this time: Kazakhstan with “only” 3 medals, but all of them gold - and won by one single boat: the C2 Men with brothers Sergey and Timofey Emelyanov. Not surprisingly, after having won their 3rd gold medal, the 500 m on Sunday afternoon, they looked pretty exhausted. „It was very difficult for us to do this race after the 200 m finals this morning. We are very happy, but we do not have time to celebrate right now as we are going straight to the training camp for the Senior World Championships in Szeged from here,“ they told us.

Hosting country Germany also celebrated an overall winner – with gold medals in all 3 distances: Tom Liebscher in his K1. Surrounded by officials, team mates and fans after every race, he kept calm – almost as if nothing had happened - and told us after his last win: „I am so happy and proud. You want to know how I managed to win at these three different distances? Well, I did not really specialise, I just trained hard for all distances.“

A small surprise was to see a Latin American country among the top ten on the list: Brasil at place 8, with one gold and one silver medal for Isaquias Queiros Santos in his C1.

The last final race and only Olympic discipline of this afternoon’s finals - 500 m in K4 ladies - was won by host country Germany’s team. Athlete Anna Kowald told us after the race: „We were placed only 4th after the heats and so we decided that we had to win a medal. None of us thought at that point that we’d become World Champions.“

About 5,000 spectators watched this weekend’s races, and anyone we asked at the site was happy with the good atmosphere. Even in the semi-finals, but more so of course in the finals, one could hear fans and team mates cheering for their athletes from the grandstands.

As Jose Perurena Lopez, President of the International Canoe Federation ICF, put it in a final press conference on Sunday afternoon: “I am very happy having seen 64 nations competing in these Championships. My impressions are totally positive. We experienced not only a high performance level by the athletes here, but also by the organisers. That´s remarkable for a Junior Championship, especially when taking into consideration the short preparation-time of less than one year.”

Late this morning, the 200 m finals were up at the Junior World Championships at Brandenburg. Seven races within just about 40 minutes, including awards ceremonies – a tight schedule for organisers and athletes – some of whom had just before finished their last races in the 200 m semifinals.

This time, the Russian juniors achieved most medals, with two times gold for the ladies, with Olesia Hikishaeva and Elena Anyushina in their K2 and Ekatarina Petrova in her C1, and two times silver for the Natalia Podolskaya in her K1 and the K2 Men with Roman Zonenko and Stanislav Dekh Tyarenko.

Hungary was next with a total of three medals, one gold and two silver, followed by Romania, Spain and host country Germany with two medals each.

Audience at the grandstands watched some very tight races – especially the C2 Male decision was a very tight one with Belarus, Kazakhstan and Romanian teams coming in almost simultaneously. Only by analyzing the finishing photos, Kazakh brothers Timofey and Sergey Emelyanov were identified as winners. At the awards ceremony, they were seen beaming with Joy: „Of course, our intention was to win and we had aimed for a medal at these championships, but in fact, we would have been happy with one. And now we have achieved two gold medals already, and this is not yet the end of the day. Maybe we’ll get the chance to take another medal home this afternoon, who knows?”

The Junior Canoe Sprint World Championships at Brandenburg/Havel have finished their first round of final races, with World Champions from 6 countries celebrated by team mates, fans and spectators on the grandstands.

In this afternoon’s 1000 m final races, Hungary has have achieved most medals of all nations - 6 in total, followed by hosting country Germany with 5 medals. From an overall view, the Hungarians performed better as among the 6 medals in total, they won 3 gold medals, 2 of which in the female kayak disciplines, the German team only provided for one World Champion.

While the Hungarians appointed for gold medals in K1 Women with Ramóna Farkasdi, K2 Women with Réka Hagymási and Tamara Takács as well as C1 Men with Dávid Korisánski, the Germans accounted for the World Champions in K2 Men with Tom Liebscher and Max Rendschmidt.

Other nations which obtained one gold medal each were the Czech Republic with Josef Dostal in his K1, Kazakhstan with Sergey and Timofey Emelyanov in C2 Men, Spain with its K4 Men as well as Poland with the C4 Men.

Silver and bronze medals for Hungary wer achived in K1 and K2 men as well as C4 Men disciplines, Germany accounted for two silver medals in the male disciplines of K1 and C1 and two bronze medals in the female disciplines of K1 and K2.

Romania, Russia and Poland are taking home 2 medals from the 1,000 m races while the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Spain, Great Britain, Kazakhstan and Slovakia were able to achieve one each.

Spectators could enjoy the finals at much better whether conditions, with only gentle rainfalls most of the time. Following later this afternoon are the 500 m semifinals in which many of the athletes have to start once more.

On Friday morning, the Junior Canoe Sprint World Championships were started with the 1000 m heats. After a  very rainy early  morning the skies cleared up a little just in time for the first races at 9.00 a.m. and fortunately, weather conditions remained quite stable for the rest of the morning.

As expected by many, the Hungarian and German juniors accounted for most direct qualifications for the final with 4 boats each.  

Romania was also able to present very good results, placing 2 boats directly in the finals, 14 other nations reached the finals directly with one boat each. The  total of 24 boats qualifying directly is due to the fact that in some disciplines only the winner qualifies directly for the finals, in others it’s the first 3 boats. K1 male athletes, due to the high overall number of competitors could not qualify directly for the final runs, however, but have to compete in semi-finals this afternoon.

A sure highlight for the audience was the first C2 1.000 m heat which was one by Kazakh brothers Sergey and Timofey Emelyanov who finished with an estimated advance of about 6 boats lengths and almost 10 seconds before the Belarus team who came in 2nd.

Other races were much tighter, as the K4 male 2nd heat which was won by Spain, followed by the Hungarian and Slovak teams.
„It wasn’t an easy race, and in fact we had not expected to win,” as Spanish athlete Marcus Cooper Walz noted just after the finish. “ Our strategy was mostly to save energy for the finals so we chose quite a slow stroke on the first 500 metres and speeded up only in the second half. However, we were in first position all the way from the start to the finish.“ This placed the Spanish team directly in the finals.. According to team leader Marciso Suarez, the Spanish athletes – 19 in total – are hoping to take home at least one medal.

C4 athletes Lukasz Wietrak and his Polish team also won a very tight battle with Hungary. Just after the race, Lukasz Wietrak gave us this résumé:
„We are very happy with this result. We had planned to see how the other teams are doing at first and then to catch up and see what we can do. It was a very tight race between us and Hungary right from the beginning.

Belgium could provide a clear victory in the K1 2nd female heat with an advance of more than 6 seconds over German Isabel Friedt.  Athlete Hermien Peters told us:
“It was not so easy at this early time. But I am in a good shape and had a view to the other lanes. It´s great to be in the final directly and maybe I´ll win a medal.“

Altogether, the 1000 m heats were quite successful and the more than 500 spectators were presented some exciting races. Time schedules were kept perfectly so the last 1000 metre disciplines, K4 and C4 male, were finished just before noon.

The first big applause at the Junior World Championships at Brandenburg’s Beetzsee race venue on Thursday night wasn’t for one of the athletes or the officials, but for a huge frog. Hosting city Brandenburg’s mascot was celebrated by athletes, officials and honoured guests in the first rows as well as fans and audience all over the well filled grandstands. This marked a successful and funny kick-start for the event which was presented in a very nice and laid-back manner by Marco Takis and Arno Boes.

 Each of the 64 teams, from Argentina to Venezuela, marching in with 2 representatives each with their respective flags were also greeted by big applause.

Brandenburgs’s finance minister Helmut Marcov then greeted athletes and spectators. “We are happy and proud to welcome athletes and officials to this international event here in Brandenburg “ he said, noting that the improvements done at the site during the last few years were very important for the sport and granted good conditions for athletes and spectators.

Lady mayor Dietlind Tiemann then said a special thanks to all volunteers and organisers and emphasised the good co-operation of the State government and city officials of Brandenburg as well as the local organisers.

President of the German canoe Federation Thomas Konietzko was next to speak – he especially appreciated the fast and efficient organisation of  the event after the decision for the Championships to be held at Brandenburg was made only in December 2010 and noted that Brandenburg was kind of “the heart of the German canoeing nation”. He then wished all athletes good luck and lots of good experience and motivation for their further careers.

Jose Perurena Lopez, President of the ICF, was the last official to speak at the opening ceremony “It is a special experience for me to speak here in front of you as President for the first time” he said, and noted that he was convinced Brandenburg  provided perfect conditions for good and fair racing events, especially after all the improvements made here during the last years . He then spoke about the ICF’s talent identification programme which enables young talents from nations where canoeing is not so popular to participate in international events. “Some of the participants of these Junior World Championships were only able to come to Brandenburg thanks to this programme” he added. The final words of his speech “I declare the World Championships open!”  were followed by the international Federation’s hymn while the flags of the ICF and the hosting state of Brandenburg were flown. Florian Harms then sang the German national anthem live and received a big applause from the audience, finishing the flag ceremony and marking the kick-off for the second part of the event, featuring presenting -as promised – a youthful party atmosphere, featuring young singer Jacky, a dance group performing in cheerleader costumes and style, inspiring many spectators – and not only those of juvenile age -  to make pictures and videos with their cameras and mobile phones. While the next group was preparing the stage for their show, local rock/pop band “The Paul’s” entertained the audience and later distributed some of their CD’s.

The following show by gymnastics world champion Peter Nikiferow and his team “Dreamstyler” was a really spectacular one, featuring slow-motion acrobatics accompanied by dramatic music, leading the audience to alternately hold their breath and applaud frenetically. hip hop dance group “RokaZ” then followed with a special choreography all around canoeing and kayaking. The “Dreamstylers” then took over again, bringing down the house with spectacular jumps on a big mat with and without paddles in their hands. Singer Jacky then completed the opening party with a song called “Fire”, leaving the audience in a perfect party mood on their way home.