03.10.09, Ötztal, Tirol, Austria. In a tight and thrilling final on the legendary Wellerbrücke course German kayaker Alexander Grimm won gold today at the adidas Sickline Extreme Kayak World Championship in Austria’s beautiful Ötztal. Grimm finished 68 hundreds of a second ahead of New Zealand’s Mike Dawson and Jakobus Stenglein from Germany. Over 100 top kayakers from twenty-two countries, among them Olympic Champions and World Champions in canoe slalom, had travelled to Austria to compete for world championship honours on one of the most difficult whitewater sections on the planet.

With the new race format, the day started off with 2 rounds of head-to-head heats.  Number 1 raced number 48 to go through to the 2nd Final Round, number 2 battled number 47 to progress and so forth. This was repeated with the top 24 contenders. This new knock out system ensured that the midfielders have a fair chance to use good technique to get decent rankings, and it also ensured that the fast guys didn’t battle each other until the final round. As a result, the Superfinal line up of 15 was indeed the best of the best. In a field of this kind, no one could afford to make even the slightest mistake.

First to launch in the Superfinals was Frenchman Fabrice Pouyeto. A time of 1:04,05 secured him a seat in the Softub Whirlpool to enjoy an Erdinger Beer with Miss Tirol, Christina Keil. His time only beaten six runs later by last year’s champion. Fabrice was dethroned by Thilo Schmitt, who took to the water with a super focused expression. Making the run on solid whitewater look easy, Thilo crossed the finish line in 1:02.16 and took his place in the hot tub next to Miss Tirol. With his track record, it seemed possible that he would hang on to his place in the rankings. 

Alexander Grimm (GER), launching immediately after Thilo, glanced a little off a rock on the left straight out of the launch chute. Being strong enough to drag himself out of almost anything, it took only a few powerful strokes to get him well on his way. A slalom racer more at home in a super slick boat on a man made course than in a plastic kayak on whitewater, many competitors thought he would not feature in his first extreme whitewater race. When he reached the final 3m drop in 50 seconds, it was clear that they were all mistaken. With a time of 1:00.46, Thilo barely had time to settle in with Miss Tirol before Alexander took over.  

Top contender and race favourite Andrew Holcombe (USA) followed Alexander Grimm. In true Holcombe-style it looked as if he was taking it easy, but in reality he was flying downstream with a nice clean approach. He had a good run, and when he reached the last drop in 50 seconds, it seemed as if the slalom champion topping the rankings would indeed be replaced by a cut and dried kayaker. But anything can happen on Wellerbrücke, the smallest mistake can cost a paddler precious seconds.  Straight after the drop Andrew stalled, got pushed slightly to left where he lost those few seconds. Not recovering fast enough, the timing beam caught him at 1:02.09. “Obviously I wanted to be on the podium. All my lines were good, but I didn’t paddle as hard as I could in the last section.” a disappointed Andrew observed afterwards. In fierce competition on one of the toughest whitewater courses in the world, athletes need to make every paddle stroke count.

Jakobus Stenglein (GER), ex slalom World Champion, arrived at the start with only two weeks of training behind him due to a broken rib. Despite this, he got off to a good start and took a slightly unorthodox approach in the core section further down the course: as he entered the turbulent core section, he a chose a line to the right, whilst most others kept left. Jakobus reads whitewater well, and trusting his instincts on which line to take in the core section paid off handsomely. His reward: 3rd place on the podium in a time of 1:01.87. He assigns his success to good base fitness and mental preparation: “Mentally I felt really well prepared, so I thought I could make it to the top. It was tough though, and I had to advance step by step to the top 15. The start was hard, but I won it in the last drop. I’ve had problems in the core section all day. It’s just 20m, but it takes your energy. But the most important thing is to have is an instinct for the water. This makes some guys more successful than others. So not every slalom racer could do as well here today as Alexander did. He has the instinct.”

Sam Sutton (NZL), 2008 vice champion came to Ötztal for “global domination”. In good shape, well trained and performing consistently all week, it obvious that he wanted his win badly.  After a great approach to the compulsory section, the crowd cheered as their favourite took a good line into the tough 20m core section. Sam made it to the final drop in 49 seconds, the fastest time of the day up to that point in the course. Coming down the drop, he was pushed all the way into the left eddy. Here, his race was lost. A time of 1:02.32 secured him 7th position, but fell short of his expectations for this event. Sam comments: “I’m so pissed off. I was going well, and then I made a mistake at the last drop, I stopped off at the bottom, and then I had to paddle back into the cataract. So I just lost it at the last drop. Gutted, I’m feeling pretty gutted.” 

Last on the Superfinal start list was Mike Dawson. Whilst waiting to launch, Mike could be found with his eyes closed and gripping his paddle, making imaginary paddle strokes whilst visualising his run. After starting too far to the right, this strong slalom paddler recovered quickly; the only other mistake was a touch of his paddle to a rock. Still, he made it to the top of the last drop in 50seconds, and finished in a time of 1:01.15. His focus and mental preparation rewarded him with the 2nd place overall. “Obviously I wanted first, but just being on the podium is fantastic. I’m also really stoked for Alex. We’ve done slalom races together, but this is his first extreme race. So I’m pretty happy that he is here on the podium with me. And coming down Wellerbrücke 3 times in a row without getting hurt is pretty great. Ötztal is really awesome, the scenery is great but to end the day in a hot tub with a beer and Miss Tirol is just as great!  As for a sick line, the sickest line is the cleanest, the one that looks effortless, but the sickest line is also the one that makes you roll and come up with a broken nose. Today, the sickest line was definitely the fastest line.”

The 2008 Olympian and new adidas Sickline Extreme Kayak World Champion stunned his detractors, but most of all Alexander Grimm surprised himself, as he humbly admitted after the race: “I really surprised myself today and now I can relax. Before the race I stood outside, looking at the course, it was so powerful. I was nervous and didn’t know what to do. I never expected to be in the finals, and I never expected to do a run in 1:00,46. This morning I wouldn’t believe that I could win gold and be here in this pool. Winning is a combination of fitness and finding the right line. You also need a bit of luck, because anything can happen, you can hit a rock and lose 5 seconds. But I had a good feeling after each run today. I learned a bit each time and improved so my last run was the best. After my slalom season I was looking for another challenge, a new experience. My World Championship slalom results were not so good, so focusing on this race cleared my head. How does success feel? Well, sitting here in the hot tub with the gold medal, a beer and Miss Tirol feels pretty good!”

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