Preview of who will be the European teams to watch in Prague. Germany wins EDBF champs 500, newcomer Spain 3rd. Russia takes the mixed. Times in the 500s consistent with Sydney while the 200 times were slower. Conditions unknown, Saudabia is a lake course. You can see full results at www.edbf.org.

PREMIER OPEN 500m GRAND FINAL

GERMANY 1.49.018
RUSSIA 1.49.270
SPAIN 1.50.476
HUNGARY 1.50.698
CZECH 1.51.218
GR BRIT 1.51.476


PREMIER MIXED 500m GRAND FINAL

RUSSIA 1.53.68
GERMANY 1.54.97
CZECH 1.55.76
SWEDEN 1.56.33
HUNGARY 1.57.24
POLAND 1.57.39

Conditions were variable winds, some choppy water, clear and very hot. Wind could have affected 200m times, as it was windier that day than the day the 500s were run, but the wind was mostly from the side and back. "Rolling starts" since the pontoon anchors and boat holders couldn't cope with the weight of the dragon boats and the wind.

The course was a deep channel in a wide, shallow, body of water. The course is used as a training course for Italian Navy's canoeing and rowing athletes.

The Czech crews, while strong, weren't the best team they've sent. Many of their top paddlers were not present. The Germans were looking very good and it was evident they had been training hard to be back on top. The Russians were very good. Lots of crossover paddlers (canoe/db), so some good depth in the teams. I was expecting to see more from the Slovaks as they had done very well in Prague a couple of years ago, but the guys there seemed to be there just for a holiday in the sun.

The junior paddling, while there weren't many crews, was VERY competitive. Those kids worked hard for their medals!

Spain, what the hell? Did they have Dave Cal in the boat? It really surprises me they were able to beat the Czechs and Hungarians.

Slovakia did win the 2000. So the starts were not held starts? Makes interpretation of the times a bit difficult.

Historically, Spain was canoe-dragonboaters, so a lot of very fit guys with lots of water time. When IDBF was voted into GAISF, Spain switched to IDBF db paddling, so there's depth there, so not surprising they beat the Hungarians and Czechs.

Also, Czechs weren't with the bulk of their strongest paddlers, although they nevertheless had good paddlers and performed well. I heard they had to bulk out their team with some festival-paddlers (in Europe, "festival" paddlers are mostly from corporate teams, so not the "serious" regularly-training paddlers). Hungarian db has been developing quite well over the years, but since there have been more "pure db" clubs forming in Hungary and many of their paddlers are still fairly fresh from the festival scene, they are still developing the depth they need. They looked very good in Sabaudia and with the EDBF CCC in Budapest this-coming year and the WC in nearby Czech, they probably be working harder than ever to come out on top in these races. I think they will show better next year as they have a good mix of "pure" db & canoe paddlers in Hungary and will have had more time to train together (that was the problem with the Slovaks this year too - not enough water time together as a db team as they were all canoe paddlers with very mixed motivations who only trained together in the db a few times).

We're getting a lot of nice crossover hear in Europe between db, canoe & rowing. You see it reflected to some degree in the teams' development. Nice too, to see the animosity between canoe & db dying out. The Germans (traditionally a db-based country) and the Spanish (traditionally a canoe-based country) were wonderful to watch both on the water and off - congratulating each other on good performances and having fun in the sport.

(Just for the sake of interest, while the EDBF championships were taking place in Sabaudia, the German canoe-db'ers were holding their "national db championship" in Germany the same weekend. Too bad they won't join the IDBF fun! Nevertheless, as you see by the results, Germany's DB'ers are doing very well again!)

Was there any U23 teams there? How competitive is the new category in Europe?

No U-23's were present in Sabaudia although the category is included in Europe. Most U-23's are in premier racing, but the category is expected to grow as youth paddling grows. Saw more youth teams in Sabaudia than ever before. Lots of experienced GB youth that will soon be "graduating" into U-23's.