Translated material
Pobednaya Nastya
Three-time world champion retires
The third World Aquabike Championship ended in the French resort town of Golfe-Juan. Unlike the two previous world forums, the Russian team was left without gold medals.The competition took place in the waters of the local port, where, judging by the number of masts, there were much more yachts moored than there were buildings in Golf Juan itself. In this situation, it is quite natural that the majority of the audience were vacationers on the Cote d'Azur. Only numerous VIP guests and a colorful support group of about a dozen of the Austrian freestyler Eva Maria Antensteiner came especially to watch this competition. The rest were clearly attracted by the roar of the jetski engines.
By the start of the parallel slalom, the small stands were filled; the rest of the curious were forced to sit on the huge boulders laid out along the border of the port. However, the first type of program did not inspire them, since for too long they had to watch not the competition, but how the buoys marking the course were placed. In addition, the first part of the parallel slalom is a monotonous individual qualification. Plus the main inconvenience is that it was possible to learn about the results only by ear, and even then the public was informed only in French. Obviously, not all vacationers owned it, and it is no wonder that by the time of the relegation races the stands were noticeably empty. So only the most patient saw the triumph of Italian Alessia Ida.
The second day of the tournament was noticeably more eventful. Spectators could watch group races in the Sky Division (here Ida again won) and Runabout classes. The races were quite similar, since those who succeeded in the qualifying races really fought for victory. In the second of the mentioned classes, the first award came to us - Olga Podkhvatilina very reliably defended her third position until the very finish. Olga was second in this discipline at the first World Championships in Moscow, but I think the current award is more significant. After all, now a whole dozen athletes competed for medals, and the competition has increased noticeably. Only the laureates of the last championship, Laura Emmel from Monaco, and the American Karin Paturel were ahead of the Russians.
The main audience flocked to the freestyle competition, which, of course, stood alone in terms of entertainment. The organizers managed to maintain the main intrigue until the very end. Until the last moment, everyone was in the dark whether three-time world champion Anastasia Potanina would participate in the championship and in what capacity. The Russian woman’s name alternately appeared in the starting protocols distributed in the press center and then disappeared from them. Literally ten minutes before the start, the informant judge named Nastya among the award applicants, but she was not in the competition program.
Potanina was allowed to perform immediately after the completion of the main program, announcing that she was thus saying goodbye to big sport. To be honest, everyone watched her performance with delight, and my colleagues and I also watched with sadness. After all, you didn’t have to be a great expert in this sport to understand that this athlete had no equal among the tournament participants. The gold award in this situation went to Eva Maria Antensteiner, who had previously finished two championships with the rank of silver medalist. I am glad that she was accompanied on the podium by Russians Ekaterina Toloknova and Nadezhda Lobanova.
It is difficult to say yet how cloudless the future awaits the world aquabike championship. What makes you think is the fact that, with the exception of two Americans, all the other participants represented Europe. However, in any case, we can say that we take this sport very seriously. The presence of Russian specialists was the most impressive in Golfe-Juan; they meticulously recorded every little detail. We can only hope that all this will help our team return from the next championship with gold medals. True, the time and place of its holding, contrary to usual world practice, have not yet been announced.