Canoeing and kayaking: Manon Hostens rises to the occasion of his ambitions at the World Sprint Championships

Arriving at the World Championships with ambition, after a hard summer workout, Manon Hostens and Vanina Paoletti were on target this Thursday during the heats. They finished second in their heats, with the fourth fastest time overall.
The dream of a world podium might have seemed ambitious at first for Manon Hostens from Périgord and Vanina Paoletti from Angers, in the 500-meter tandem kayak. It has become a little less so since Thursday morning. During the World Championship series in Milan, Italy, the French boat set the fourth fastest time.
In 1'42''26, the Tricolores finished second in the third of the four series, behind the young Australians (1'40''77) but ahead of China (1'42''44), the Hungarian favorites (1'42''55) or the Dutch licensed in Arras, sixth in 1'44''87. The French duo was even faster, by 0.33 hundredths of a second, than New Zealand, again led by multi-medalist Lisa Carrington. This Thursday, they had to settle for second place, 1''07 behind the Russians.
Just a warm-upAt the same time, the risk of elimination was low, as much for France as for many others. Indeed, among the 29 kayaks entered, only two were not going to the semi-finals: the 8th in the first series and the two worst 7th. Thus, even Latvia, last in the French race, will be in the semi-finals!
The big nations were therefore able to content themselves with warming up, in order to keep some energy in their pockets and especially in their arms for the rest of the season. It will be Saturday morning, at 10:52 a.m. for Manon Hostens and Vanina Paoletti, in the third and final semi-final, alongside the Americans, Slovaks, Czechs, Russians, Italians, Mexicans, Slovenians and Ukrainians. They will have to finish in one of the top three places to be in the A final on Sunday at 11 a.m. and still have hope of a medal. Even the B final, for the 4th to 6th places in the semi-finals, would be a disappointment for the French K2.
Dordogne Libre