The Canoeing Ciutat de Palma Trophy crowns its winners

Portuguese Messias Baptista, Hungarian Csoka Csikos and Ok Mobility team impose themselves in an edition marked by emotion and international participation.

Portuguese Messias Baptista (K1 male), Hungarian Csoka Csikos (K1 female), the English-American duo formed by Deborah Kerr and Jonas Ecker (K2 mixed) and the Ok Mobility group (integrated by Fernando Pimenta, Manfredi Rizza, Teresa Portela and Selma Konijn) were crowned on Saturday, October 11th, champions of the 2nd Canoeing Ciutat de Palma Trophy, competition in which the great world stars have gathered in this sport with Mallorca’s cathedral as direct witness and before over a thousand of civilians that have not wanted to lose the opportunity to a sporting spectacle of maximum level.

The test, boosted and organized by Real Club Náutico de Palma and Padle Games, has reunited thirty international figures coming from ten countries and with an overall success of 18 olympic medals and over 400 international ones in Parc de la Mar. Podiums have been completed, in this order, with Fernando Pimenta and Manfredi Rizza (K1 male);Emily Lewis and Ruth Vorsselman (K1 female); Ana Lucz-Gergely Balogh and Pauline Jagsch-Roi Rodríguez (K2 Mixed); and teams Oliu and Eulen (qualified together), in a journey in which the public has been able to follow regattas from Parc de la Mar and from the highest sport of the walls of the old city.

The Elite competition has consisted of a 400 metres journey, where there have been spectacular moments of the race, with some collisions and leadership changes. The qualifying races for the main event began at 4:00 PM, as scheduled, under a cloudy sky, with the organizers’ technical team keeping one eye on the horizon and the other on the weather radar. In the end, the weather sided with the organizers, athletes, and spectators.

“It was a very exciting competition, and I hope to come back next year. It was a bit tough for me, since I recently competed in the marathon world championship, but I adapted quickly to the format,” said Csoka Csikos, who reached the Elite races through the Open class.

Messias Baptista highlighted that the Ciutat de Palma “brought together some of the best paddlers in the world.” He added, “It was a highly competitive event, very challenging, especially around the turns. I’m very proud of the victory. The atmosphere, with people cheering beneath this impressive Cathedral, was magnificent. I hope to return next year.”

Mallorcan Álex Graneri, who crossed the finish line first in the Mixed K2 alongside Paszek but was penalized ten seconds for going off course, expressed regret “for not being able to deliver a local victory to the fans,” but was satisfied with his performance in the mixed race and proud of his club’s organization of the event. “The Ciutat de Palma is a world-class competition with a very fun format. We should be very proud of having consolidated it in such a short time,” he stated.

The Ciutat de Palma program began at 11:00 AM with races for the junior categories, which took place under light but persistent rain, and continued, with almost no precipitation, at 1:00 PM with the Open class qualifying races, which completed the final lineup. The Elite teams, composed of two men and two women, competed not only for the collective title, which complements the individual awards, but also in the new K2 category.

During the break between the qualifying phase and the Elite races, a group of young grassroots paddlers, chosen by lottery, had the opportunity to row alongside their idols in a double boat. This exhibition category, called Fantasy, was introduced this year to promote interaction between young talents and professional paddlers.

The Real Club Náutico de Palma decided early in the morning to maintain the scheduled program despite the threat of bad weather. “We postponed a sailing race we had planned, but in this case we didn’t see it necessary, as the course was restricted and the weather forecast for Palma only predicted rain; the orange alert was not activated,” explained Manu Fraga, director of the RCNP. “We know outdoor sports come with these challenges, and this year the Ciutat de Palma was certainly different, but no less exciting and brilliant. It was worth it,” he added.

Event coordinator Carlos Borrás also expressed his satisfaction with the second edition: “More and more international paddlers are showing interest in participating in the Ciutat de Palma, which confirms that both the format and the venue work. The Real Club Náutico de Palma aims to continue establishing this event as a reference on the international calendar while maintaining its essence: bringing high-level paddling closer to the city and its citizens.”