San Sebastian paddler Miren Lazkano won the bronze medal in kayak cross at the World Canoe Slalom Championship, which was held until this Saturday at the RIVERSPORT venue in Oklahoma City (United States).
It is the third medal for Spain in this World Cup, after the bronze from David Llorente in the kayak cross time trial and gold from Miquel Travé in the individual canoe. Furthermore, it is the first individual world medal for Lazkano, after gold at the 2021 European Championship in C1. The Swiss completed the podium Alena Marx, gold, and Australian Noemie Fox – current Olympic champion -, silver.
In this venue, which will host the discipline at the 2028 Los Angeles Games, Lazkano He had been on the verge of a medal in the time trial last Monday, with the fourth best time. She had no problems in the first round to be the fastest in her series, although in the round of 16 she had to settle for second place, which also helped her qualify.
In the next round, she was the smartest of the four competitors. He did the first climb alone, since the three rivals had gone to the opposite side, so came out with a big advantage and secured the semi-finals. In them, he used the same strategy to get into the final in second position.
Lazkano did not let herself be intimidated by the strength of the rivals in the final and also dared to come out conservative. It was not as successful as in the previous rounds, but It was enough to finish in third position, ahead of the German Ricarda Funk.
Your selection partner Maialen Chourraut, triple Olympic medalist in K1, had been eliminated in the round of 16 after hooking up with the Chinese Lin Chen on one of the ski lifts. Laia Sorribes held on until the quarterfinals with a strategy based on waiting at the start and overtaking on the first lift, but it did not help him enter the semifinals.
Men could not shine
In the men’s category, Manuel Ochoa and Pau Echaniz reached the round of 16. The former had passed the first round comfortably, but had no luck in their round of 16 series. Echaniz, who had to go through the repechage, had a good start until the first lift, where he lost position and was relegated to fourth place.
The unpleasant surprise for Spain was the early elimination of David Llorente, who had won bronze in kayak cross time trial by setting the third best time of all the candidates last Monday. In the first round, a bad start condemned him to the repechage, in which he was the fastest in his series, but He was relegated to last place due to a foul on the third gate and was eliminated.