Curtain Falls on Szeged with 200 Finals

Szeged, Hungary – The curtain has come down, the fat lady sang and the sun has set on a thrilling but exhausting 2011 ICF World Sprint Championships.

The last medals have been awarded, media have filed their last stories and what had been a temporary city is having one last party for all its residents before the athletes, their entourages, boats and other trappings of this international event are packed away to head home.

At final count, 25 of the 94 participating countries went home with at least one medal. The lion’s share of medals was snared by the usual suspects: Germany and Russia tied for first with 11 each, Hungary got runner-up with 10 and Belarus went home with 8.

The following is a roundup with some of this World Championships’ final Gold medalists.

• Lisa Carrington (NZL) looked fast all week long and there was a reason for it. She is fast. In her opening round heat, Carrington finished more than a boat length ahead of her nearest competitor, Timea Pasky (HUN).

Carrington said her victory today was “a bit unreal,” especially since it’s her first year racing this distance. She surmised her Gold is a pretty big win for New Zealand. “It’s good for the girls and I hope it makes the sport bigger at home.”

• With today’s Gold medal Valentin Demyanenko (UKR) kept his World Championship medal streak alive winning medals in each of the four Worlds in which he’s competed; three gold and one silver.

• Laurence Vincent-LaPointe (CAN).  Vincent-LaPointe captured her second gold medal of these games with a win today in the C-1 Women’s 200m final. Her first gold came yesterday with partner Mallorie Nicholson in the C-2 500m. While she admits she likes basking in the limelight of victory, Vincent-LaPointe explained her love affair with canoe sprint. It all started one summer when a friend introduced her to both canoeing and kayaking. “From the first time I tried canoeing and kayaking, I knew I’d be canoeing even if I was always in the water because I tipped too much,” she laughed. “It’s a really nice sport. I feel free when I do it. Even if I’m tired and my body is hurting, it feels like you did something great, it makes you feel strong and accomplished.”

Katalin Kovacs and Danuta Kozak added the final Gold to Hungary’s cache of 10 gold medals over these past five days. After a rare miss of the podium in yesterday’s K-2 500m event (fourth), Kovacs came charging back today with Danuta Kozak to claim Gold in K-2 200m.

Hungarian Head Coach Botond Storcz seemed content with his team’s results this week when the focus was squarely on securing Olympic quotas. To that end, there were some personnel changes, some of which worked out better than others. The gold medal performance by relative youngsters David Toth and Tamas Kulifai was a “pleasant surprise,” albeit in a non-Olympic event. On the flip side, Storcz said it was disappointing that all the work put into the Men’s K-4 1000m team this past year didn’t pay off as hoped.

“There’s still some gaps that need to be filled next year and that’s the main task at hand,” the three-time Olympic gold medalist said.

For complete results of these and other today, visit http://www.Szeged2011.com