Eva Barrios again in a gold medal performance at Spanish Winter Champs

Very high level was seen in Sunday's final of the Senior Women K1, where Eva Barrios gave another example of her great form and won a deserved gold medal in a hotly contested race.

Barrios, in white, on the wash of Contreras. Foto: Fotoyos

After Saturday's 2,000, fifty paddlers started the race and immediately formed a large group ahead with all the favorites for the title. Alternation of several paddlers in the lead, as Laura Pedruelo, Ana Isabel Martinez Contreras or Sanjurjo, but without tightening the race so much that the group had just being diminished. On the wash always seemed comfortable Eva Barrios, who tended not to spend too much force while Ainara Portela looked to have trouble catching the last wave and suffered on the back of the group, which closed the Majorcan Elena Monleón. Further back was a second group whith Mary Soria, Raquel Carbajo, Carla Pérez, Tania María Fernández and Corbera, among others.

The two short laps, in front of the large crowd that filled the banks of the CAR of La Cartuja, accentuated the feeling that Eva Barrios was keeping her bullets for later, while Contreras and Pedruelo were taking turns on the mark. On the second wash were also unknown the intentions of Begoña Lazkano, which seemed to be waiting for her time, while Ana Martinez seemed already be paying the effort after setting the pace all the first lap.


Still  a group of 7 paddlers made the last turn with just 500 meters to go. But there Eva Barrios appeared and imposed a very strong pace. Nuria Villacé lost contact at that point and then sprint splitted in two lines of three: a first one for the medals with Pedruelo, Barrios and Contreras; and a second one with the U23 paddlers Lazkano and Martínez, as Villacé seemed relegated to bronze in this category.

Finally, despite the efforts of Pedruelo and Contreras, Eva Barrios knew how to impose her strong paddle and entered the finish line as winner with Pedruelo in silver position and Contreras taking the bronze. A few yards behind Begoña Lazkano (the 19 year old hope coached by Ekaitz Saies) became fourth absolute and U23 gold by just half kayak on Ana Martinez Sanjurjo, silver medalist, staying Nuria Villacé with the U23 bronze medal. Behind, in a string of paddlers, came Ainara Portela, Elena Monleón, Tania Fernandez, Carla Perez, etc ... realizing that the future of women's kayak is more than assured by this young generation of paddlers when it comes the time to substitute Manchón, Portela, Smidakova and company.

You can check the full results at this link.