Seeing canoeist Sophia Jensen on the podium at the Junior and Under-23 World Championships has become routine over time. As in 2021, the Chelsea athlete will leave Hungary with four medals, she who concluded the worlds with bronze in the C1 200m as well as silver in the mixed C2 500m, with Alix Plomteux.
Posted at 1:27 p.m.
Jensen won the bronze medal in the C2 500m on Friday, then was part of the Canadian C4 crowned champion in the 500m the following day. Triple junior world champion in 2018 and 2019, she won two gold medals, one silver and one bronze last year.
In August, she won silver in the C1 500m at the World Championships held in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, in addition to gold in the C4 500m. There was no indication that she was going to slow down in Szeged.
“I’m really happy with my performance this week! It’s been a very long season, so I’m happy with the way everything went, ”summarized Sophia Jensen.
Sunday, the one who will celebrate her 21e birthday this month took part in the A final of the C1 200m as defending champion. This time she covered the distance in 47.06s to finish third, just behind Spain’s Antia Jacome (46.37s) and China’s Changwen Shuai (46.92s). Only 27 hundredths of a second separated Jensen from Poland’s Katarzyna Szperkiewicz, who is in fourth place.
The Quebecer then teamed up with Alix Plomteux to try to defend their mixed C2 500m title. The canoeists put on quite a show for the occasion and the photo finish was necessary to decide between the boats.
The Spaniards Antia Jacome and Diego Dominguez finally triumphed by a few centimeters. The two Canadians earned silver by finishing 4 hundredths of a second behind the winners, then 5 hundredths ahead of Poles Norman Zezula and Julia Walczak.
“We struggled to control ourselves at the start and we struggled to finish the race well. It’s not the end of the world and we had fun! We will still have a chance to regain the title next year,” said Alix Plomteux, from Quebec.
“Over the past two days, the fatigue has really started to set in, so I’m very happy to have managed to give it my all despite everything and bring home four medals,” said Jensen.
Earlier this week, Plomteux was ranked 8e C2 500m with Tyler Laidlaw, then 6e of the C2 1000m with Andrew Billard. He also represented the country in the C4 500m, where the Canadian team finished fifth. If he hoped for better for certain events, in particular the C2 500 m, the one who trains in Lac-Beauport intends to build on these worlds and come back in force next season.
“The races were very difficult and always close. There were many countries represented, the level was very high and it was difficult to adapt, mentioned the 22-year-old athlete. You learn and improve every time you race. It just takes us a little more experience and we’ll catch up. »