- Lilik takes silver at Olympic debut: "Somehow unreal"
Elena Lilik beamed with joy upon crossing the finish line, like a true winner, and wept tears of happiness. After 25 tense minutes of waiting for the final starter, it was confirmed: The slalom canoeist's wild ride through the water at the Stade Nautique de Vaires-sur-Marne was worth silver. The 25-year-old from Augsburg's Canoe Swans has thus secured the first medal for the German Canoe Association (DKV) at the Olympic Games in Paris, after the top favorites Ricarda Funk and Sideris Tasiadis came away empty-handed.
"The wait was much harder than the race itself, but it's done. It completely surprised, overwhelmed, and shocked me somehow, because the race felt somewhat surreal," said Lilik.
After the awards ceremony, she spontaneously jumped over the barriers and let her family celebrate her. "I've been looking for them the whole time and had a crisis. I had to go to my mom, see if she's okay, if she can still stand," said Lilik, before getting a big kiss from her husband.
The 2021 canoe world champion completed the wildwater course with 23 gates in 103.54 seconds. The Olympic gold went to Australian Jessica Fox in 101.06 seconds. Third place went to Evy Leibfarth from the USA in 109.95 seconds. The fastest in the semifinals, Gabriela Satkova from the Czech Republic, finished only seventh.
"This silver medal was very cleanly and meticulously earned. You have to take your hat off to that. That was such a great run. Great that we have silver," said DKV sports director Jens Kahl. "She did that very well," also praised national coach and father Thomas Apel.
Tasiadis was once her coach
In her adopted hometown of Augsburg, the native Weimarer has been sitting in a boat since her childhood. "As little girls, we clung to the lampposts and said: we're not going down there," she remembered. Sideris Tasiadis, then the coach of the children's group, did some convincing work. "He sent us down the bridge five times, and we swam five times, but it was a beautiful experience," Lilik reported.
At first, it didn't go at all. Nevertheless, she fought her way through. "She's just a showstopper," said Tasiadis admiringly. The sports-loving family also helped a lot with that. "It didn't always come from me. I got the message from home that you never give up, you always keep going," said the athlete.
Eventually, it paid off. "And then the fun came too," she said. This also pleased Papa Thomas, the kayak national coach, who has been training the double starter since 2020: "We've put so much work and nerves into this, it's brought us even closer together."
Family and lucky charms present
Besides her husband Leon, her mother Daniela and her younger sister Emily, also a top canoeist, cheered her on from the tribune. And then there are her lucky charms. "Definitely the self-knitted pillow from my mom, otherwise nothing works," said Lilik. "And then I got earrings from my mother-in-law, which I'm wearing here."
Learning from ice hockey
In August 2021, she married ice hockey player Leon Lilik from Riga, who now works as an athletic trainer for German vice-champion Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven. Because her passport wasn't ready in time, she started at the 2021 World Championships in Bratislava under her birth name Apel.
The 2021 World Championships in Bratislava were her breakthrough into the absolute world class: After silver in the kayak, she won her first individual title in the canoe and then added another silver in the kayak cross. Now she also has an Olympic medal.
In the heat of the summer, Elena Lilik and her family planned a joyful game in the park to celebrate her recent achievements. Despite being exhausted from her Olympic success, Elena enthusiastically participated in the summer game, showing off her new Olympic silver medal.
As the Olympics came to a close, Elena and her husband discussed the possibility of organizing a summer game for the Canoe Swans, inviting past team members and coaches, including Sideris Tasiadis, to celebrate their collective achievements and celebrate their bond as a team.
