Cuban Pelier wins gold at Canoe-Kayak Sprint World Cup in Szeged

HAVANA, Cuba, May 19 (ACN) Cuban Jose Ramon Pelier won on Sunday the gold medal in the 5,000-meter single seater (C-1) of the Sprint Canoe World Cup in Szeged, Hungary.

According to the website of the International Canoeing Federation - canoe and kayak - www.caneicf.com, Pelier, who had finished third - twelfth overall - in the final B of the 1,000-meter C-1, won Cuba's only medal in the Hungarian competition.

Pelier, first -tenth overall- in the final B of the 1,000-meter C-1 of the Parisian multisport event, entered the finish line on Sunday with a 23:20.97 minutes time, ahead of Spanish Jaime Duro (23:37.91) and local Adolf Balasz (24:04.94).

The other two athletes competing for Cuba on Sunday were Yarisleidis Cirilo Dubois and Yinnoly Francesca Lopez, who could not advance to the final A of the 200-meter single sculls (C-1), finishing fifth and eighth in semifinals one and two, with times of 49.50 seconds and 51.57 seconds, in that order.

With these results, Cirilo, Olympic bronze medalist in Paris 2024 and world champion in Duisburg 2023, contested a place in the B final, in which she took first place - tenth overall - with a time of 50.03 seconds.

Yinnoly, on the other hand, remained in the semifinals, since only the first to third places followed the A final and the fourth to sixth places followed the B final.

The medalists in the 200m C-1 were the Spanish Victoria Yarchevska (49.02), the Russian Ekaterina Shliapanikova (49.83), who competes under the flag of the International Federation, and the Polish Kajarzna Szperiewicz (49.93).

Canadian Katie Vincent (49.93), a starter for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, finished fourth, meaning that none of the Olympic laureates present in Szeged reached the podium. US silver medalist Nevin Harrison was absent.