Adidas Sickline Extreme Kayak World Champs.

The Sickline Extreme Kayak World Champs have drawn to a close in Oetztal Austria. Another amazing event in the Austrian Alps on the Wellbrucke Rapid. The course was a little bit juicier than previous years, and the field that showed out to battle for the title was intense.

The race format begins with a qualification event. This culls the field from 150 competitors down to 45 + the 3 medalists from 2010. The qualification course incorporates the bottom 2 drops of the finals course and then has 60 seconds of class 3whitewater. It's a thrash out. The times are fast and everyone is stacked in with just a few seconds separating the top 40. Igor from Russia took the number one rank showing his intentions for the weekend. Fabian Doofler was in 2nd and Vavra Hradilek in 3rd. I finished in 6th place just 1.16seconds of the pace.

From here the race moves up to another level with the finals held the following day on the infamous Wellebrucke Rapids. The course is transformed into a stadium with the Sickline Organizing team putting in camera, safety, banners, a spa pool, and a bunch of other things along the edge of the river. Due ot the caliber of the athletes this year the semi-final was stacked. Anyone could claim the crown. The fastest is paired with the slowest and they race head to head on time down the rapid. The fastest advances to the next round, before a 1 run Super Final for the top 15.

I found myself paired up against Lars Lammler from Switzerland in the opening round, a solid run put me through to the semi-final where I was matched up against Isaac Livingston USA. We have raced a lot in the last few years, so this was anyones race. I had a solid run coming in just ahead of him. He was the lucky loser-someone who misses the cut, but has the fastest losing time so advances to the final. From here it was the super final. Ranked 6th in the final I was the 10th starter. A big mistake at the bottom cost me a couple of seconds but I moved into first just 0.03seconds ahead of Paul Bocklemann (GER) I stayed in 1st as 8 athletes finished on 58 seconds. With only Sam Sutton to go I knew I had a medal tied up. Then the show began. Sam absolutely ripped the course to shreds. No mistakes. Clocking in on 55.84seconds. 2.14seconds ahead of me.

A wicked race broadcast to 15 nations live, with 150 competitors from 26 different countries. This shows how extreme racing is on the rise!!

The full results are

Womens.
1st Martina Wegman (NLD)
2nd Caro Loir (FRA)
3rd Anne Hubner (GER)

Mens
1st Sam Sutton (NZL)
2nd Mike Dawson (NZL)
3rd Paul Beckleman (GER)


As quickly as it came, the season was over. This was the last race of a full on 12 months racing- Now it's time to prepare for 2012!!

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EJ's take on Sickline
Sickline Press-release

Photo's supplied by Adidas Sickline Jens Klatt & Manu Arnu