It was one more international event after so many others that had already awarded more than 120 medals between the Olympic, World, European and World Games, it was more than an international competition also because it was held on national territory. Shortly after winning the bronze medal in the K1 1000 in Tokyo, and pointing to the next goals, Fernando Pimenta did not forget the World Marathon scheduled for 2022 in his land, Ponte de Lima. And these were special days for the national kayaker.
Canoeing: Fernando Pimenta world champion in the short marathon race
“Ten years ago I last participated in a Marathon World Cup, in 2012, in Rome. It was another time. He was ten years younger and almost every year he competed in marathons. Now, there are experts on this. It was as if a marathoner were going to do K1 1,000 meters now, he felt the difficulties of another rhythm, ”explained Pimenta, who that same year won his first Olympic medal in K2 1,000 with Emanuel Silva at the London Games. The beginning could not be better. and, on the first day, the Portuguese won the gold medal in the short race, beating the Danish Mads Pedersen and the Spanish Iván Alonso (José Ramalho, who was champion, was eighth).
????Fernando Pimenta is World Champion of the Short Distance Canoeing Marathon, in the race held in Ponte de Lima ???????
The summary of the exam is at https://t.co/CzoCXv7av2#COPortugal
???? FacebookFernando Pimenta pic.twitter.com/QCJjupwfmh— POLITICS (@COPPORTUGAL) September 29, 2022
“This is the tastiest medal. I don’t think even the Olympic podiums can dethrone this medal. Almost anything goes. In the final meters, with this crowd that is here, it was out of this world. When I found out that the Marathon World Cup was here, it was a dream to be a champion. I worked hard to get this title here at home. It was? It was very hard. After achieving great goals, with medals in European and World Championships, returning to the field, doing tests with little preparation time, doing specific training sessions that I hadn’t done for ten years… It was very hard and exhausting. He left many war marks on his hands and feet. I still haven’t been able to put my feet on the ground and only when I wake up and see the medal will I believe it”, said Pimenta, who this year won six medals in the European and World Championships.
Fernando Pimenta: “They have it easy out there. What I cannot control is in the hands of our rulers”
Limiano’s emotion after the victory in the short race worked almost like an oxygen balloon for the next challenge, perhaps the main and most complicated: k1 Race, where he had won the bronze medal in the majors (silver in the U-23) in 2012 and had the experienced José Ramalho, 40 years old.
Canoeing Marathon World Championship, Ponte de Lima.
An organization of the Portuguese Canoeing Federation and the International Canoeing Federation.
In the photo with the president of the Vitor Félix Federation and the athlete Beatriz Fernandes. pic.twitter.com/KQi9qKhGFh
– João Paulo Correia (@jpcorreia_sejd) October 1, 2022
from the beginning that the two portuguese were trying to work together being able to put the test at his own pace, given Mads Persen’s will to get ahead. Pimenta led in an initial phase of the first round when there were still 17 athletes in the front group, José Ramalho (who in these longer distances is the Portuguese with the most resume) took the lead in a stage in which there were only nine boats. With a tendency to reduce even more, Pimenta returned to the front to follow the turn. In the second lap, Pedersen managed to climb to the top of a group with only six elements but was followed by a second difference by the two Portuguese in the race.
The forward six, which also included two South African athletes (Birkett and Lovemore), were picking up the pace because it was more convenient for their strategies, then there was a slowdown that allowed some of the rearmost elements to be almost glued to the front. but going through the toll booth on the fourth lap made up for the same differences, with Ramalho leading from time to time and Fernando Pimenta always in a position of greater expectation. In general, and halfway through the final, times were slower than expected and that is the only way there were such approximations.
???? José Ramalho became World runner-up in the men’s K1 race at the Marathon Canoeing World Championship held in Ponte de Lima. ????
Fernando Pimenta was 5th after the title in the short race last Thursday.#COPortugal | Canoeing VET pic.twitter.com/ARCUhb62ko
— POLITICS (@COPPORTUGAL) October 1, 2022
The second half kept the main candidates in front, looking at each other on occasions to see who could endure the race in a mixture of keeping their distance from the rest of the canoeists and managing the effort that was beginning to be noticed, with José Ramalho and Fernando Pimenta beginning to do a tighter marking to the Danish Mads Pedersen in the decisive turn, especially in the moments before the turn. In the decision, which came in the final sprint, South African Andrew Birkett managed to beat José Ramalho’s sprint (2.08.25.94-2.08.27.04), while Fernando Pimenta, who had been fighting for a long time despite never giving up, finished in fifth position (2.08.43.33) and was visibly excited. Mads Pedersen closed the podium of the race (2.08.27.36).
Source: Observadora
