Drama on the Whitewater: Fatal Blunder Costs Funke the Medal
Slalom kayaker Ricarda Funk misses the anticipated medal at the Olympics significantly. Three years after her Olympic victory, she has to settle for the eleventh place. A mistake in the lower part of the course ruins her dream of a second Olympic medal.
Ricarda Funk looked at the result board in disbelief for a few seconds after her slalom drama. She could hardly comprehend her error at the Hexenkessel of Vaires-sur-Marne. The Olympic champion from Tokyo let go of the reachable medal in the sprint finish, but after a brief shock, bitter tears flowed. The 32-year-old had to settle for the eleventh place in the kayak competition at the Summer Games in Paris on Sunday.
"I still haven't quite come to terms with it. I took a risk, but it was too much today," Funk said in a broken voice to ZDF, looking tearful: "I'm very disappointed. I was in the race and fought well. I'd like to do it again, but unfortunately that's not possible." She had poured a lot of "heart blood" onto the course.
In front of thousands of German fans in the eastern part of Paris, Funk paddled past the 20th gate with a strong start, but paid for it with 50 seconds in penalties. Her parents Claudia and Thorsten were shocked on the sidelines. Funk had won the semifinals despite a paddle strike, but went last into the tumultuous wildwater course. Three years ago, Funk had won the first gold medal for the German Olympic team in Tokyo.
"We're all massively disappointed now"
"I thought: How cool is it to start as an Olympic champion as the last one," Funk described her emotional state before the race. And in the upper part of the canal, she was initially under the time of the ten-time world champion Fox, who had laid down a remarkable time of 96.08 seconds without touching a gate.
But then came the costly mistake. "She may have lost focus for a moment. That's part of the sport. You can say that the performance was there. You have to take risks. That's the thin line between risk and control," said head coach Klaus Pohlen and added: "We have to accept and endure it. We're all massively disappointed now. It would have been nice to have a good start at the Olympics. We have to move on."
Medal chance in new event
Finally, she wanted to experience the full magic of the Olympic Games in Paris. But a kind of Olympic curse weighed on the soldier. Rio 2016 were supposed to be her first Games. She was the favorite, but the dream shattered - and then the tragedy: Her trainer Stefan Henze died in a car accident during the Games in Brazil.
"2016 was a shitty year for me, that still doesn't really go into my head what happened there," she said. Despite the tragic turn of events, she took a new approach for Tokyo, but due to Corona, the games were a year later than planned - and Funk wondered: "What does Olympics have against me?" At the make-up date 2021, it couldn't have gone better sports-wise. Gold! But she could hardly celebrate. Due to Corona regulations and because her hometown, the district of Ahrweiler in Rhineland-Palatinate, was hit by floods never seen before.
The games in Paris will no longer be remembered as highlights. At least there is still another medal chance left. Besides in the C-1 kayak, Funk also competes in the new Olympic discipline of Kayak-Cross. Funk sees the competition as "a great enrichment. In Cross, I'm really nervous. That's where the elbows get packed." In the coming days, the German Canoe Federation sends further medal candidates to the whitewater with Noah Hegge, Elena Lilik, Sideris Tasiadis, and Stefan Hengst.
Ricarda Funk's hopes for a second Olympic medal at the Olympic Games 2024 in Paris were dashed due to a mistake in the lower part of the course. Despite her strong start and initial lead, she paid the price with penalties and finished in eleventh place.
The disappointment was palpable, with Funk lamenting her risky decision and expressing her desire to race again in the new Olympic discipline of Kayak-Cross, where she sees an opportunity for redemption.
