Franklin produces clean run to seal C1 gold for GB
Olympic silver medallist finishes 1.72seconds clear of rival Delassus
Windsor's Mallory Franklin paddled her way to C1 gold at the Canoe Slalom European Championships in Slovakia on Sunday.
The Olympic silver medallist and fivetime world champion finished in one minute 53.35 seconds to edge France's Marjorie Delassus into second by 1.72 seconds. Czech paddler Tereza Fiserova finished third in 1.55.77.
Unbeaten in the C1 semi-final, Franklin went on to dominate in the final, putting down a clean run to finish more than a second clear of Delassus. With an impressive time of 115.07, Delassus set the early pace, but
Franklin couldn't have started her run much better, taking 1.86 seconds off her rival by the first split.
Her confidence on a tricky and technical course in Slovakia was apparent as she gained even more time during the mid-section, before keeping her cool around the troublesome gate 25 to post another fast and clean run, crossing the line in 113.35.
After winning the gold, she said: “I’ve felt like I've been paddling really well in this race. It’s great to come out and win gold.
“I am really enjoying my paddling. I love racing in Liptovsky and it’s my first international race being coached by Rich (Hounslow) so I'm really pleased to deliver medal performances this weekend.
“I didn’t know what time I had to beat, I was purely locked into my own plan and wanted to really deliver on gate 2. Once you get past the drop and start paddling out of that section, you get a feeling about how you’re doing. I was just pleased to deliver a good run in the end. I’ve spent more time in my kayak this winter as I am really happy with where my C1 is currently.”
Unfortunately, British teammate Kimberley Woods (Rugby) missed out on making the final after a tough opening to her semi-final run. She lost balance around gate five, resulting in a missed gate and needing a paddle-back to avoid a 50 second penalty.
Having already taken bronze in the K1 Women's final, Franklin then took silver in the extreme slalom women's event, a new classification that's set to make its Olympic debut at Paris in 2024.
Franklin again got off to a blistering start in the K1 final and was up by 0.80 seconds at the first time check, however, a touch on gate nine knocked her slightly off her rhythm and she struggled to regain time over the tough mid-section. She ended up finishing three seconds adrift of Slovakia's Eliska Mintalova and Italy’s Stefanie Horn who put down the same times and shared the gold medal.
Reflecting on Saturday's bronze, Franklin said: “I didn’t feel like I didn’t put down my best run. I started well but didn’t finish as I would have liked to have done but to still be able to do a medal winning run is cool.
“I haven’t raced much in the kayak over the past year, focusing on the C1 in the run up to Tokyo but I’ve had a really good winter training and it’s great to be able to deliver internationally which will really get my confidence up.”