Trave edges field in men's canoe at ICF Worlds
Spain's Miquel Trave grabbed a narrow victory in the men's canoe final, finishing with a 88.28 to claim the gold medal.
Video Transcript
And you wanna start off clean because that perfect line at the top is definitely gonna pay dividends all the way down the course.
Yeah, and we have our first heavy hitter right here, Mikel Trave from Spain.
You see that bib number three on his chest?
That means he is ranked third in the world.
So while he's second off the start line, he's one of those folks we expect to really be contending for the podium today, and we watch as he goes now direct into gate four.
So we're already seeing some strategical changes here.
That was aggressive.
Most people were going backwards through that gate during the first run, so a bit of change of strategy and, again, just showing you how much they're gonna sort of put it out there and risk, risk it all for that gold medal.
The time on the course that they've spent already is paying off because they are looking smooth, at least our first two.
And as you take a look at the split, he's about 1.7 seconds above our Now look at the second split, 2.64, so he's increasing that gap.
Exactly.
Those green numbers on the right side of your screen will tell you that he's ahead.
If they're red, that means he's behind on the split.
So about halfway through this course, looking really good.
A little bit of a, almost a tip over right there, so the boat slowed down, but really nice and high in this upstream.
Gets caught up just a little bit.
That boat pile caught him, started to catch his bow, but he's able to maintain it and get back up on the upstream.
Yeah, just those little tenths of a second here and there are what's gonna start adding up.
But right now, having a smoking run is Trave from Spain.
He's got one more difficult move right here, but again, a natural right-handed paddler, so he has the advantage on this cross.
And high into upstream gate 22 and digging for the finish.
This is a great run by Trave from Spain.
Beautiful.
Absolutely fantastic.
He's gotta be happy.
He is pumped.
I mean, yeah, but he's only in second.
He's got 10 more paddlers to go behind him, but when you see that enthusiasm, you know, it all comes down to the athlete.
They know if they did good, and they know if they did not so good, and he is fired up on what he just, just laid down here on the course.
Yeah, super stoked, and that was a very nice run.
These athletes know what a good run is, is and what isn't, and just so tight on these upstream poles.
And just see how fast that boat shoots.
This was, like, one of the little mistakes right there.
Minor.
Minor, minor mistake, but another clean run.
So already two clean runs, where earlier in the day we saw a lot of penalty issues.
Mikel Trave, as the Spanish say, campeones del mundo, how does it feel?
Ah, incredible.
Incredible.
I think it was hard way to come here.
After Olympics, I was fifth.
After last year, I was fourth.
Finally, it came, and it came with a gold.
Well, good things come to those who wait.
How was it after those two events?
Really difficult.
Really, really difficult to come back from.
But speak to us about that journey to this moment here.
Yeah, it was not easy, but I took it with a lot of motivation.
I tried to push myself to the maximum, and we get prepared for this world championships as maximum as possible, and I could finish sixth in K1, first in C1, so it's, it's like a dream.
Yeah.
You said it's like a dream.
Do you really feel in the best shape of your life at the moment?
I know I feel really good.
But yeah, right now I, we prepare for this competition, so I'm, I feel really happy.
But last year in Australia, I feel really good, and in Olympics I was feeling, so I think I'm preparing good for the big races.
The gold medalist and world champion, representing Spain, Mikel Trave.
Ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the national anthem of Spain.
Ladies and gentlemen, please show recognition for the men's canoe medalists of the 2026 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships.
