World Kayak Event Coverage

Thun, Switzerland – Some 250 pf the world’s best kayakers, representing 35 countries, are fine-tuning their Pan Ams, Airscrews, and Helixes in the final days of practice heading into the start of the ICF Freestyle World Championships here next week.

Taking a closer look at this year’s field, the following is a synopsis, by division, of paddlers to watch as the Thun wave starts to boil from all the hot paddlers.

“Like any sport, World Championships brings out the very best in competitors, even more so for freestyle kayaking since we aren’t yet an Olympic event,” said ICF Freestyle Chairman Lluis Rabeneda. “Even casual spectators who might not know much about the sport will appreciate the complexity of the athletic moves and amazing amplitude the athletes can achieve.”

Men’s K1
Defending champ Eric “EJ” Jackson (USA) returns to try to win an unprecedented fifth world title. But Jackson, 45, faces stiff competition from his own family and teammates as well as other young guns eager to unseat the winningest kayaker in history. Heading the list are Jackson’s son-in-law, Canadian National Champion Nick Troutman and his fellow Canadian national teammate Billy Harris as well as reigning US National Champ Stephen Wright. Other serious threats to Jackson’s title include last year’s World Cup Champion, Peter Csonka (SK), French champion Matthieu Dumoulin (FR) and Anthony Yap (AU) who designed a new kayak specifically for the wave in Thun.

Women’s K1
Probably the biggest threat to defending Champ Ruth Gordon’s (CA) title is Team USA’s Emily Jackson. The 19-year-old daughter of Eric Jackson, Emily, won the junior women’s division of the last World Championship, won last year’s World Cup and is reigning US National Champ. Other women to watch include Norway’s Marianne Sather, Germany’s Jutta Kaiser and Emily Wall. Wall spent the past year training in Africa. Also a threat no matter what type of kayaking event she enters is Australia’s Tanya Faux, whose titles include 2006 World Cup champ, 2007 Australian Canoeist of the Year, World Championship silver medalist, and 2008 Australian Adventure of the Year for her first descent of the Moran and Mitchell Rivers in Kimberley, Australia.

Junior Men K1
Coming into Thun on fire this season is France’s Sebastien Devred, who won last year’s World Cup. So far this year, Devred has not only won every event he’s entered but he’s also done so with scores that would have seen him at the top of the senior men’s podium.
Aiming squarely at Devred are Team USA best friends, 16-year-old Dane Jackson (Eric’s middle child) and Jason Craig.

Junior Women K1
One of the few divisions wide open due to the absence of defending champs, the heavy favorite is Nouria Newman of France who won last year’s World Cup and is also a formidable slalom competitor. In fact, Newman will be arriving in Thun later than most competitors, and foregoing practice tine because she’ll be coming straight from a major slalom event. One freestyle insider described Newman as “55kg of pure talent.”

C1
Watch for a trio of western Europeans to battle it out including European champ David Bainbridge (UK), veteran competitor Marcus Hummel (DE), and Alexandre Bessau (FR) who won World Cup last year.

OC1
This division that uniquely features a high number of homemade boats sports defending champ Stephan Paetsch (DE), last year’s World Cup champ James Weir (UK) and another German, Toby Huther (DE), who will be paddling a low-volume, converted unique low-volume twin-tip boat which will put a lot of pressure on his opening moves.

Squirt
Brits are the primary force to be reckoned with in this division. Look for strong showings by James Reeves and Claire O’Hara.

The ICF Freestyle World Championships are scheduled Aug. 31 to Sept. 6. Other exciting paddling competitions during the event include the Jackson Kayak King of the Wave and Rafting High Ender competitions on Friday, Sept. 4, a Kayak Big Air competition on Saturday and a river surfing exhibition.