The first weekend of the Olympic selective in the national Slalom, concluded with some certainties and uncertainty.

The Spanish selective process is somewhat complex, but it can be summed up that the applicants are fighting six declines of which the four best results are added. Three of these declines have been held this weekend on the La Seu d'Urgell channel and, the three final ones, will be next week (5.6 and 7 April) in the French town of Pau. In addition, there is the Kayak Cross, which would be key in the event of a tie to points as the results accumulated on the two Sundays of racing would be the ones that would tilt the balance on one side or the other.

As far as the competition is concerned, starting with the female canoe, Nuria Vilarubla (Cadi Canoe - Kayak) has a lot of cattle this first weekend. The one in La Seu, he won three victories in his descent and positions himself as the favorite clear to repeat on an Olympic date. He already went to Tokyo 2020, where he concluded in eighth position and will now fight, if he wins one of Pau's sleeves, to improve that result in Paris.

Just as well on the road, Miquel Travé has it. He was also born in La Seu, and dominated his three bouts with iron and, without making a single mistake as he ended up without penalties, he came very close to the Olympic dream of Paris. In addition, the Cadi Canoe - Kayak has two bonus in case it is necessary, as having achieved a silver in the European Krakow and two finals in last year's World Cup, it is a mattress that leaves it in view of the goal of the Games.

The third of this ternal is Maialen Chourraut, the one of Lasarte points to his fifth games and why not, to his fourth Olympic medal. In this first part of the selective achievement to be the best among the Spanish palists in the three descents and although the one of the Atlético San Sebastián is very prudent and only wants to follow the path marked, step by step, the fact is that its presence within the Olympic team is increasingly closer. We will have to wait next week to know if Laia Sorribes, who has been very close in time to the donostiarra all weekend, is able to accumulate victories to put maximum emotion in the final rounds.

An emotion that seems to want to give us to the end the senior boys of the K1. The show given to us by the two main candidates for the Olympic Square, Pau Echaniz and David Llorente, has been typical of a world championship. In the first of the three sleeves it was Echaniz who achieved the triumph (80.10 seconds) with a margin of 1.20 with respect to Llorente, but on the day of Saturday, already knowing the segovian that had to go for all, he gave the best of himself to get the series tied, so yes, his time 80.09 seconds (the best of the whole weekend) was only better than that of Pau Echaniz for 0.10 seconds, a margin so little, that in any World Cup both could have gone up to the podium.

With the tied tanda came the third descent and the Basque gave the replica to the castellanoleonese. Pau was made with the victory (81.28 seconds) with only a margin of 0.20 with respect to David, which leaves the counter with two wins for the one of the Atlético San Sebastián for one for the one of the River Eresma, but in this category can pass from everything in the three slopes outstanding next week. Where the other rivals in the fight may be key as Miquel Travé has not said his last word about kayak, Manu Ochoa, he wants to remove himself from the role he has signed in La Seu and Manel Contreras may be the fifth man to enter the struggle for triumph.

The Sunday day was devoted to the Kayak Cross, a new Olympic mode in which the important, in view of the Spanish selective, were the classifying sleeves. In the same, the participants made two counter-watches in which the best time was the one in the face of that Olympic trial. And on this occasion, the two best were Maialen Chourraut and David Llorente.

The donostiarra achieved the best time in the first of its sleeves and, although in its second attempt it was overcome by Leire Goñi and Mira Lazkano who came down from the 56 seconds, they could not exceed 54.6 marked by Chourraut in their first attempt.

In the male category, David Llorente was a cyclone in both sleeves, 48.6 in the first and 48.5 in the second, leaving without options Travé and Ochoa that, although they signed good times, 50.20 in the first and 50.32 in the second, did not put the segovian in trouble. These Kayak Cross results are not definitive as an average will be made with what happens next Sunday in the French town of Pau, but it already gives a good sample of what we can find there, in this mode, next week.

2024-03-30 Prior to the Seu d'Urgell

There are less than four months left to turn on the Olympic nipple in Paris and few sports remain to be defined for athletes who will compete in the French capital. One of them is the Pyragüism, which in the next three weeks will name the boats already classified for the Games, both in Slalom and in Sprint.

It will be the palists of the Olympic Slalom who first play the tickets for the Parisian appointment and the first stop to meet our Olympic representatives will take place on the track of La Seu d'Urgell. We must remember that our country already got the four places that were put into play at the 2023 London World Championship in Lee Valley (C1 and K1, both male and female).

The registration for the 'Olympic Trials' is made up of 49 senior palists in K1 (34 men and 15 women) and 27 seniors in C1 (15 men and 12 women), where there are to be three of the four palists who have already come to Tokyo 2020: Maialen Chourraut, Nuria Vilarrubla and David Llorente. But the best national figures such as Mira Lazkano, Laia Sorribes, Klara Olazabal, Leire Goñi, Ainhoa Lameiro, Miquel Travé, Pau Echaniz, Manuel Ochoa, Luis Fernández and Daniel Pérez will also fight for the Olympic plazas. Names that in 10 days will know their future for the international season that will also be important on the national team. There is a great absence in these two dates, that of Olatz Arregui, that due to a shoulder injury is going to miss much of the season.

The quotes of the Spanish Cup in this second edition will be Friday and Saturday, leaving for Sunday March 31 the Kayak Cross competition, to which 122 palists have registered, of which 51 are of the senior category (34 men and 17 women).

For the Olympic selective C1, the four best results of the following decreases will be added:

Semifinal Friday, March 29 (2nd Spanish Cup)
Final, Friday, March 29 (2nd Spanish Cup)

Semifinal, Saturday, March 30 (2nd Spanish Cup)
Semifinal, Friday, April 5 (3rd Cup of Spain)
Final, Friday, April 5 (3rd Cup of Spain)

Semifinal, Saturday, April 6 (3rd Cup of Spain)
Results achieved in the Kayak Cross classification (1st Spanish Cup)
Bonus of results obtained in the 2023 season

For the K1 Olympic selective, the four best results of the following decreases will be added:

Semifinal Friday, March 29 (2nd Spanish Cup)
Semifinal, Saturday, March 30 (2nd Spanish Cup)
Final, Saturday, March 30 (2nd Spanish Cup)

Semifinal, Friday, April 5 (3rd Cup of Spain)
Semifinal, Saturday, April 6 (3rd Cup of Spain)
Final, Saturday, April 6 (3rd Cup of Spain)

Results achieved in the Kayak Cross classification (1st Spanish Cup)
Bonus of results obtained in the 2023 season

For the Kayak Cross Olympic Selective, the two scores will be added:

Control clock (two sleeves), Sunday March 31 (1st Spanish Cup)
Control clock (two sleeves), Sunday April 7 (2nd Spanish Cup)