Prindis grinds out kayak cross win at ICF Worlds

Czechia's Vít Prindis jostled his way down the course at the ICF Canoe Slalom Worlds to claim victory in the men's kayak cross.

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Video Transcript

This is it though, ladies and gentlemen.

This is the biggest names in male paddle sports for kayak slalom, and right now in this moment, you're gonna watch them race head-to-head here in Oklahoma City.

And green.

We have racing pods.

Yeah, the competition all week has been so intense.

Black and Switzerland.

And now almost everyone is getting to relax down there by the riverside except for these four gentlemen right here.

There are four people that are not relaxed right now in the entire park.

And red.

We have Sam Leaver of Great Britain.

We have De Koster from Belgium, Marx from Switzerland, Leaver from Great Britain, and Prindisz from Czech Republic.

Just like that last race, any one of these men could take home the world title.

And representing the Czech Republic.

And we will know very shortly who the world champion will be.

The number six, Prindisz.

These are familiar faces that you see up in that final position consistently.

Now, I know without having Joe Clark, he's usually up there, but these are- This is a start a lot of the biggest names in the sport.

And Leaver, I'd have to say, he's been very consistent leading to this.

He has that red jersey on, and he got gate pick, and we are off.

Let's go.

Looks like Prindisz on the blue, but then Leaver in the red.

There's just a bunch of jousting as, I mean, there's paddles flying everywhere, Ken.

Now, how do they split up?

Leaver is leaving him.

He goes to the right-hand side.

Look how fast.

Oh my gosh, he got denied by Marx.

Marx just plows him out of the way.

Meanwhile, looks like De Koster and Prindisz battling, so they've come out completely different order than they came in.

And you know what?

Marx knew that Leaver was gonna pull that pivot spin, and he actually drove up on his boat and kept him from getting the bow up.

That was very smart.

And this is full, still anyone's game.

So Marx and Prindisz right now in first and second, but how will they split them in gate six?

So after the rolls, everyone looking good.

So it looks like Leaver's gonna tr- challenge Marx.

Prindisz all by himself.

But this is gonna be a close sprint to the finish, side by side.

Prindisz out in front, in front of Marx.

Oh, he is so pumped.

If you don't know that these guys love this sport, they are the stars of it.

That guy is so fired up right now.

So looks like it'll be Prindisz followed by, I believe, Marx and then Leaver.

We're gonna look at the review.

We'll get the exact results.

We do have a couple stars up here, so couple things under review.

We'll wait for the official word, but it does seem that your champion will be Prindisz.

He That, that's what I'm talking about.

You can say anything you want about this.

That guy, it, it, he might as well have just won the K1 slalom gold, right?

I, he- I mean, that was pure enthusiasm.

He, he's fantastic in that event as well, but- Yeah.

Yeah, so Vit Prindisz from the Czech Republic, I- when he went into that gate six, he was kind of all alone on the right side.

And, just sort of, ah, just the big thing though was that gate two, that was where the positioning was really set for this entire race as we watch these two athletes, Vit Prindisz and Dmitry Marx from Switzerland.

It looks to be our first and second.

But we are still trying to figure out the bronze medal position, as there is a review on both Leaver and De Koster.

You don't see mouthpieces very often in white water kayaking.

That's more of a rugby thing, isn't it?

Yeah, you know, you need it out there, Ken.

You need it.

So Vit Prindisz is your world champion, celebrating with his Czech teammates on the sideline, chanting his name.

What a great feeling.

And to any of you kayak fans out there, this is the largest crowd of any of the disciplines that we've seen.

More audience and more viewers online.

This is just a testament as to how entertaining this is.

Watch this start.

So right, they get to a point where almost no one can take strokes, because the only thing around them is just more plastic and flesh.

And then right there, you can see the green pushing the red out of the way.

Do you see how he, he stopped him?

And likewise, there's just battles everywhere, just plowing into each other.

I love it.

I will be watching the slow motion replays.

There's so many angles.

There's gonna be so much.

Take a look as he comes in, trying to take out Leaver and trying to get around.

Leaver says, "No way, my friend.

I'm scooting out of here," and tries to push him back into the foam pile.

And De Koster in the yellow just desperately trying to get around that pole.

But again, Prindisz all by himself on the right side of the river and able to take home that gold medal.

Look how close they were at the finish.

They were neck and neck.

Yeah.

D- K- Marx completely had a chance to chase him down, but Prindisz able to just barely keep his boat in front of him, stopping his momentum, and just by fractions of a second, taking home that world title.

What a special moment.

We are gonna have reviews for just a moment, but it does look wa- like we have our official.

But I also say we're also gonna look back on a lot of this.

What a perfect place.

As the review guys for the 174th time during this competition are looking at it, and I just wanna show my appreciation to them.

They are making sure every detail is perfect.

This is the world championship, and they are not gonna leave any room for error.

And when it's this close, it's a challenging position.

Yeah, so right now, De Koster from Belgium looks like he has moved into fourth place.

That means Sam Leaver gets a bronze medal for Great Britain.

So there are your winners of the world championship medals.

Vit Prindisz from the Czech Republic with the gold, Dmitry Marx from Switzerland with the silver, and Sam Leaver from Great Britain with the bronze.

And now for your men's kayak cross world champion, Vit Prindisz.

Vit, has it sunk in?

Not really yet.

I think it's, like, few minutes after my finish run.

And, I was hoping for a medal, but, at the end when I overpass, Dmitry at the last upstream, and was fighting to the finish line and kind of the gold was, going through my mind.

It was amazing feeling.

Now, you missed the team last year.

You're a big name in the sport.

How does it feel to come back and be at that top step?

Yeah, it was really hard.

I had a back, ba- bad neck injury last year, so I was out of the team and little bit struggling with my neck for the rest of the last season.

But I said to myself that I want to go back, I want to be best, and I want to be on the same level I was the years before.

I think that from day one, from Monday, I was showing my good performances through the, all the stages.

I just miss one run, and was the final ru- final run in slalom, which, was really hard and, like, tough for me to swallow during the Thursday and Fri- Friday.

But I was trying to just, get over it, and I know that, um- World champ title in Kayak Cross was the only title I was missing because I won World Cup in it, Europeans in it.

So I was hoping to chase it, and I did it.

That's amazing to hear.

You've now completed the set is amazing, and also to do it in such a fashion down to the wire, congratulations, Vit.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

The gold medalist and world champion representing Czechia, Vit Prindis.

Ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the national anthem of Czechia.

Ladies and gentlemen, please show recognition for the men's Kayak Cross medalists of the twenty twenty-six ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships.

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