2021 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships – Women's extreme slalom

Women's extreme slalom at the 2021 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships
Venue	Čunovo Water Sports Centre
Location	Bratislava, Slovakia
Dates	24–26 September 2021
Competitors	55 from 24 nations
Medalists
Jessica Fox    Australia   Elena Apel    Germany   Evy Leibfarth    United States
2022  →

The women's extreme slalom at the 2021 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships took place on 24 and 26 September 2021 at the Čunovo Water Sports Centre in Bratislava. ^[1] It was the 4th edition of the event, after it made its debut in 2017 in Pau. 55 athletes from 24 nations competed. ^[2]

The event was won by Jessica Fox of Australia, her 8th individual title in a third unique event. German Elena Apel won silver securing a third medal of the Championships along with her C1 world title and K1 silver, whilst 17 year old Evy Leibfarth won bronze, making her the youngest ever medallist in this event and securing USA's first canoe slalom medal since Michal Smolen won bronze in men's K1 in 2015. ^[3]

Background

Reigning world champion Veronika Vojtová of the Czech Republic, who took the title in 2019 in Prague, did not compete after missing out on domestic selection. ^{[4] [2]} Brazil's Ana Sátila entered as the World No. 1, having won the title in 2018, ^[5] whilst the 2021 World Cup overall winner and inaugural champion Caroline Trompeter also entered as a favourite. ^{[6] [7]}

Participation in the event was the largest in history, leading into the events Olympic debut in 2024. ^[8]

Competition format

The women's extreme slalom event in canoe slalom is split into two phases - time trials and knockout-style heats. On the Friday, all athletes complete a timed run of the course alone and are seeded based on their performance, with those awarded faults ranked last. 32 athletes progress to the heats, with the advancing paddlers selected first by National Federation, and then time. ^{[9] [10]} That is, if there are 32 or more competing federations, only the fastest athlete from each of the 32 fastest federations will advance. If there are less than 32 federations competing, the second fastest athletes from each federation will advance and so on until 32 positions are filled. A federation can enter a maximum of four boats in the time trials. ^[9]

On Sunday, the advancing athletes are split into 8 heats of 4, arranged in an order specified by the rulebook (page 74). ^[9] The heats and subsequent rounds involve head-to-head racing of 4 boats on the course, where paddlers must navigate 2 upstream gates, a series of downstream gates and perform a complete eskimo roll. The athletes select their positions in the start ramp, with preference given in the order which they were seeded by the time trials. The highest two ranked athletes in each heat progress to the quarter-finals, then to the semifinal and final. Whichever athlete is ranked first in the final is awarded gold. Athletes can be penalised in three ways in each round, by receiving a fault (FLT), being a ranked last finisher (RLF), or by not finishing (DNF). ^[10] Faults are incurred for false starts, missing gates or failing to correctly perform a 360-degree roll. Athletes are ranked last (RLF) if they breach the safety requirements of the competition, such as by holding back another athlete with their hands or paddle, deliberately paddling over another athlete's boat, or by making dangerous contact with another athlete's head or body - all other non-dangerous contact is allowed. In each round athletes are ranked first by the order in which they cross the finish line, with those incurring penalties ranked in the following order: FLT, RLF, DNF, DNS. ^[10]

The final classification of athletes is determined in the following manner: Athletes eliminated at any phase of the competition will be given their rank based on the comparison of the time trial times of athletes eliminated at the same phase. All 3rd ranked athletes will be ranked above all 4th ranked athletes. The final rank of athletes who did not progress to the heats is determined by their time trial results. ^[9]

Schedule

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)

Date	Time	Round
Friday, 24 September 2021
	13:55	Time Trials
Sunday, 26 September 2021
	15:30	Heats
	16:33	Quarterfinal
	17:09	Semifinals
	17:29	Final

Results

Time Trials

Ricarda Funk of Germany was fastest in the time trials with a time of 57.33 ahead of Australian Jess Fox. With 23 National Federations starting, 9 federations were permitted 2 starters in the heats, and none were permitted 3. 2021 World Cup overall winner Caroline Trompeter did not progress to the heats. The fastest non-qualifiers were Fiona Pennie of Great Britain (10th) and Lucia Simonidesová of Slovakia (19th). The top ten in the time trials were as follows:

Rank	Bib	Canoeist	Nation	Time [11]
1	29	Ricarda Funk	Germany	57.33
2	4	Jessica Fox	Australia	57.45
3	6	Luuka Jones	New Zealand	58.47
4	24	Kimberley Woods	Great Britain	58.96
5	36	Eliška Mintálová	Slovakia	59.03
6	38	Elena Apel	Germany	59.23
7	7	Miren Lazkano	Spain	59.50
8	51	Corinna Kuhnle	Austria	59.55
9	32	Mallory Franklin	Great Britain	59.63
10	15	Fiona Pennie	Great Britain	59.89

Knockout rounds

^[12]
Top Half

	Heats					Quarterfinals					Semifinal
	1 17	Ricarda Funk Martina Wegman	1 2
	16 32	Olatz Arregui Iisa Maenpaa	3 4
						24 25	Evy Leibfarth Naemi Brändle	1 2
						17 1	Martina Wegman Ricarda Funk	3 FLT
	24 25	Evy Leibfarth Naemi Brändle	1 2
	8 9	Corinna Kuhnle Mallory Franklin	FLT FLT
											24 25	Evy Leibfarth Naemi Brändle	1 2
											12 13	Camille Prigent Kateřina Minařík	3 RLF
	12 21	Camille Prigent P. Mukhgaleeva	1 2
	28 5	Chiara Sabattini Eliška Mintálová	3 RLF
						13 12	Kateřina Minařík Camille Prigent	1 2
						4 21	Kimberley Woods P. Mukhgaleeva	3 4
	4 13	Kimberley Woods Kateřina Minařík	1 2
	20 29	Ajda Novak Aleksandra Stach	3 4

Bottom Half

	Heats					Quarterfinals					Semifinal
	3 19	Luuka Jones Antonie Galušková	1 2
	14 30	Soňa Stanovská F. Aguirre Gonzalez	FLT FLT
						6 3	Elena Apel Luuka Jones	1 2
						11 19	Ana Sátila Antonie Galušková	FLT FLT
	11 6	Ana Sátila Elena Apel	1 2
	27 22	Monika Mitasikova Viktoriia Us	3 4
											6 2	Elena Apel Jessica Fox	1 2
											15 3	Noemie Fox Luuka Jones	3 4
	10 7	Marjorie Delassus Miren Lazkano	1 2
	26 23	Lois Betteridge Alsu Minazova	3 4
						2 15	Jessica Fox Noemie Fox	1 2
						7 10	Miren Lazkano Marjorie Delassus	3 4
	2 15	Jessica Fox Noemie Fox	1 2
	18 31	Hannah Thomas Georgia Morou	3 DNF

Final

Apel lead into the first set of upstreams but relinquished the lead to Fox when they opted for different gates. Both chose the upstream on the left side of the course in the second set, but Apel was unable to undercut Fox. Jessica Fox won gold to 'resurrect' a weekend that say her miss out on the K1 and C1 finals at the World Championships for the first time in her entire career. ^[3] Despite a late challenge from Leibfarth, Elena Apel held on to win silver in what was her third medal in as many events. 17 year old Evy Leibfarth's bronze medal made her the youngest ever medallist in this event. Naemi Brändle of Switzerland finished 4th in a career-best result. All completed penalty free runs. ^[13]

2	Jessica Fox
6	Elena Apel
24	Evy Leibfarth
25	Naemi Brändle	4

References

1. "France ends Slovakia canoe dominance". ICF Media. September 22, 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
2. "Women's Extreme Slalom Start List" (PDF). Retrieved 27 September 2021.
3. "Olympic Champions bounce back to best". ICF Media. September 26, 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
4. "Women's Extreme Slalom final results (Prague 2019)" (PDF). Retrieved 27 September 2021.
5. "ICF Canoe Slalom World Rankings" . Retrieved 27 September 2021.
6. "2021 World Cup Final Ranking" (PDF). CanoeSlalom.net. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
7. "Women's Extreme K1 results (2017 Pau)" (PDF). Retrieved 27 September 2021.
8. "Will slalom history be made in Bratislava?". ICF Media. September 21, 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
9. "ICF Canoe Slalom Competition Rules 2019" (PDF). Retrieved 27 September 2021.
10. "2021 Amendment of ICF Canoe Slalom Competition Rules Chapter 16" (PDF). Retrieved 27 September 2021.
11. "Women's Extreme Slalom - Time Trials Results List" (PDF). Retrieved 27 September 2021.
12. "Women's Extreme Slalom - Full Bracket" (PDF). Retrieved 28 September 2021.
13. "Women's Extreme Slalom - Final Analysis" (PDF). Retrieved 28 September 2021.