No Olympic luck

Kuhnle squeezes into the kayak final in twelfth place

Corinna Kuhnle

(Bild: GEPA)

Even at her third attempt, whitewater canoeist Corinna Kuhnle failed to win a medal at the Olympic Games!

The Lower Austrian came tenth in the kayak single final in Vaires-sur-Marne on Sunday. In the end, Kuhnle missed out on precious metal by over four seconds. Gold went to Jessica Fox from Australia ahead of Klaudia Zwolinska from Poland and Kimberley Woods from Great Britain.

Kuhnle reached the final for the third time in her third Olympic appearance - this time by a wafer-thin margin as twelfth in the semi-finals. Although the two-time world champion managed a smooth run in this final, touches at the second gate and, as in the semi-final, at gate 19 prevented a better result. Kuhnle was nevertheless satisfied with her performance: "It was an incredible day. I achieved my goal, I was able to enjoy it."

Every run she was able to do on this course was really cool. "The touches in the final are bitter and resonate. But I can't blame myself, I've worked hard to be in the final at the Olympic Games. In the slalom, sometimes it goes this way, sometimes that. I booked that in when I started."

"I wasn't so incredibly disappointed!"
After her semi-final run, she no longer expected to advance. "I wasn't so incredibly disappointed, I was just grateful to be able to experience it. There's such a great energy from the people - it felt relaxed even before the final." In her opinion, it was the best atmosphere she had ever experienced. "In London it was rather overwhelming, today was a completely different experience. I've already thought about what else I could do to be on such a big stage again." Maybe as a coach one day, that would appeal to her.

Austria's canoeing team is still waiting for its first precious metal at the Olympics since Violetta Oblinger-Peters' bronze medal in Beijing in 2008. According to the 37-year-old Kuhnle, it was her last participation in the Olympic Games. In London 2012, the Lower Austrian finished eighth, four years later in Rio she missed out on a medal in fifth place.