SORT, SPAIN (July 9, 2019) – The 2019 International Canoe Federation’s (ICF) Freestyle World Championships wrapped up in Spain on Saturday July 6th. The event featured several freestyle events including squirt, open canoe surface, canoe decked surface and kayak surface. Fourteen Canadian athletes competed and are leaving Spain with heads held high after great performances all around.
Canada’s best result was a 6th place finish by athlete Luke Pomeroy in the junior men’s K1 event, just narrowly missing the finals. This was Pomeroy’s first World Championship. “Worlds in Sort were amazing. I had a great time in the town and couldn’t be happier about how I placed. I am super excited for future competitions and World Championships and am grateful for this great learning experience,” explained Pomeroy.
All Canadian results are listed below.
| Athlete | Event | Event |
| Darlene Fair | K1W – 39th | Squirt W – 12th |
| Marc Godbout | C1 – 12th | OC1 – 6th |
| Matt Hamilton | SQUIRT M – 10th | |
| Pierce Huser | K1M – 34th | |
| Kalem Kennedy | K1M – 40th | C1 – 20th |
| Alex Maggs | K1W – 21st | |
| Cole Oruski | K1M Jnr – 14th | |
| Luke Pomeroy | K1M Jnr – 6th | |
| Maël Pronovost | C1 – 20th | |
| Mark Richard | SQUIRT M – 17th | |
| Phil Sheppard | K1M – 65th | |
| Ian Thomson | SQUIRT M – 7th | |
| Nicholas Troutman | K1M – 18th | |
| Hunter Vincent | K1M Jnr – 20th |
For a full list of results including other nations, click here.
“Coming out of Worlds in Sort, Spain we now shift our focus to athlete development for the next twelve months,” said Lee Vincent, Team Canada Freestyle Manager & Chair of the Canadian Freestyle Committee. “We want to expand our reach to get more athletes involved in Freestyle Kayaking while also supporting our current athletes to continue their progression and enable them to be even more successful at the 2021 World Championships in Nottingham, UK.”
This year’s Worlds were an incredible opportunity for Canoe Kayak Canada athletes to learn from each other and other nations and exposed many of the young athletes to the toughest international competition in freestyle. Athlete Phil Sheppard said it best when speaking about the camaraderie of the sport. “The thing I love about paddling is getting out there with my friends. For me, it’s about pushing myself and learning new things, and when I’m sitting in the eddy watching my friends do something rad, I am just as happy for them. The world championships are about coming together with friends from around the world, pushing yourself to be better than you were the day before, and celebrating when someone does something extraordinary.”
A number of the Freestyle national team athletes will be competing at the upcoming Whitewater Nationals on the Gull River in Minden, Ontario on August 16th. This is a fun event for paddlers of all levels and we invite anyone in the area to come out and participate.
Watch a video of the Canadian athletes during training here.
Canoe Freestyle is a dynamic discipline where competitors aim to score points for tricks and flips on a set water feature. It is a constantly evolving discipline, with new tricks being developed to complement and improve on existing moves, which are similar to those performed in freestyle snowboarding, surfing and skating. Athletes have 45 seconds to perform as many different moves as possible, which are scored based on degree of difficulty. This is the second time the Freestyle World Championship has taken place in Sort, with the first being in 2001.
Visit Canoe Kayak Canada’s website to get more information and make sure to follow @PlanetCanoe and @CanoeKayakCAN for more live updates.
Subscribe to Canoe Kayak Canada’s mailing list to get all news and results directly to your email.
About Canoe Kayak Canada
Canoe Kayak Canada (CKC) is the national governing body for competitive paddling in Canada, one of Canada’s top performing summer sports with a total of 24 Olympic medals, and a leader in the Paralympic movement. Canoe Kayak Canada is a member-based organization that includes an intricate network of clubs as well as provincial, territorial and divisional paddling associations. Elite National Team athletes proudly represent Canada at various competitions around the globe – most notably the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Pan American Games, ICF World Cups as well as Junior, Under 23 and Senior World Championships. Follow Canoe Kayak Canada on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
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For more information:
Laurel MacAdam
Communications Intern
Colleen Coderre
Communications Lead