Saturday’s competition at the Canoe Slalom World Championships brought Italia Team two more cards for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games.

Stefanie Horn and Giovanni De Gennaro held their nerve in the British Lee Valley Water Centre (London), winning the ticket to the ten-strong final as well as one of the fifteen Olympic quotas available per gender in K1.

The 2022 European champion (photo FICK) was flawless in the semi-final, posting seventh place with a time of 105.84. Later in the showdown, she collected two painful last-gasp penalties, having to settle for sixth place with 106.54. Gold went to Australia’s Jessica Fox (103.60 and 2 penalties), who finished ahead of Slovakia’s Eliska Mintalova (104.73 and 2 penalties) and Poland’s Klaudia Zwolinska (105.00).

A solid semi-final also for the Brescian, who snatched the pass for the final with the third best time (94.26), subsequently placing sixth (94.74), not close enough to be in the fray for the medals. These were shared by host Joseph Clarke (91.32), Czech Jiri Prskavec (93.26) and Moroccan Mathis Soudi (93.91).

For Italy came the third and fourth place national quotas after the two secured in men’s and women’s C1, by Paolo Ceccon and Marta Bertoncelli respectively. A heavy Olympic pass haul for Italian slalom athletes, a phenomenon that has not occurred since the London 2012 Games.