- "Super run": Kanutin Lilik takes silver at her Olympic debut
Elena Lilik already celebrated like a winner after crossing the finish line and cried tears of joy. After 25 anxious minutes of waiting for the last starter, it was confirmed: Her ride through the wild waters of 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 2021 Canoe World Champion completed the whitewater course with 23 gates without error in 103.54 seconds. The Olympic victory went to Australian Jessica Fox in the kayak 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 clean 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 Bundestrainer and father Thomas Apel.
Tasiadis was once her trainer
In her adopted home of Augsburg, the native Weimarer has been sitting in a boat since her childhood. "As little girls, we clung to the lampposts here in Augsburg and said: we're not going down there," she remembered. At that time, Sideris Tasiadis, as the trainer of the children's group, performed a lot of convincing work. "He sent us down the bow bridge five times, and we swam five times, but it was a beautiful experience," reported Lilik.
At first, it didn't go at all. Nevertheless, she fought her way through. "She is simply a showstopper," said Tasiadis admiringly. Also, the sports-loving family helped a lot with that. "That didn't always come from me. But I got the message from home that you never give up, you always keep going," said the athlete.
At some point, it paid off. "And then the fun came too," she told. This also pleased Papa Thomas, the kayak Bundestrainer, who has been training the double starter since 2020: "We have put so much work and nerves into this, that has brought us even closer together."
Family and lucky charms were there
Besides her husband Leon, she also cheered on her mother Daniela and her younger sister Emily, also a top canoeist, 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. Since her passport wasn't ready in time, she started at the World Championships in September under her birth name Apel. The World Championships in Bratislava were the 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.
The marriage to the athletic coach also paid off on another level. "He brings in a different input here and there, something more experimental that we haven't done much in canoe slalom so far," said Lilik, who used to play handball in Weimar like her mom. With the new training stimuli, her "body has a better interplay, because the focus is not only on the upper body. The torso works from the legs to the upper body together. You also need something in the legs for that."
The renowned trainer Sideris Tasiadas, who once guided Elena Lilik in her childhood, was filled with admiration for her achievements. "She is simply a showstopper," Tasiadas praised.
Elena Lilik's lucky charms played an essential role in her Olympic success, including a self-knitted pillow from her mother and earrings from her mother-in-law.
