Inside the 2022 ICF Freestyle Worlds – Day 5, a Busy Day

by Jack Ledwith
Every day during the 2022 ICF World Freestyle Championships, Irish paddler Jack Ledwith is sending us his view on what is going on in Nottingham (UK) where the worlds are taking place this year.  Follow along each day as he recaps what they see from the river bank.

An extremely busy day here today in Nottingham. Not only do we have the main events going on, but we also have side events for people not competing in the world championships. Today The second round of the Master’s freestyle kayaking where some of our more let’s say veteran paddlers got to compete. Even some past champions took part with Claire O’Hara and Eric Jackson taking to the course. Competition for the largest loop also took place at the inlet gate where competitors attempted to hit their boat off a PVC pipe over the course that was risen by a centimetre every time it was hit.

Ottilie stunned the crowds with 3 incredible runs topping the leader board with a stunning 690 points to rival the men, picking up her second gold medal of the competition.

Although the side events were very good to watch the main stage events were incredible today with the semi-finals of C1, both senior k1 categories followed by the juniors and then the C1 finals. Every time the juniors compete it seems like they’re getting better and better. Producing some scores to rival those of the senior paddlers

The day ended with the C1 finals for both men and women. The C1 women’s category had a tough field of paddlers who were all in it to win it. Without having C1 in the world championships before it was anyone’s game. After an insane 3 runs, Ottilie stunned the crowds with 3 incredible runs topping the leader board with a stunning 690 points to rival the men, picking up her second gold medal of the competition.

« The win was taken by the USA Landon Miller following his father’s footsteps with both of them now having world championships »

The last event of the day was the men’s C1 final with a stacked heat having, ex-world champions defending world champions and young up-and-comers alike. The win was taken by the USA Landon Miller following his father’s footsteps with both of them now having world championships under their belts after his father won both OC1 and C1 in the Sort worlds. It’s going to be hard to beat The ride’s put down in the semi-finals but tomorrow brings the finals and who knows what might happen.