Teresa Portela gets the passport for London 2012. All the results of the Spanish Cup on 200 and 500 metres

Teresa Portela

This weekend was held at Verducido Dam (Galicia, Spain), the last national women’s trials and the Spanish Cup over 200 and 500 metres, so the Spanish Team going to Poznan trying to qualify the last boats for London 2012 is now ready. Teresa Portela, who already qualified the Women K1 200 for the Games at Szeged World Championships, got the final nomination in her distance, so now it’s the third Spanish paddler with the assured passport after David Cal and Alfonso Benavides.

In the 500 metres, Ainara Portela (not a relative of Teresa, by the way), was the winner and got the place for Poznan, leaving out Beatriz Manchón and Zomilla Hegyi, among many others.

In the K2 500, Beatriz Manchón and Jana Smidakova, who already were the defenders of the place, easily won the trial, with a 5 seconds distance over Eva Barrios y Laura Pedruelo. You can check the trials results here.

Then, it was time for the Spanish Cup. Many contestants on all the races with more than 50 paddlers in some of the disciplines and with a very hogh level, having very tight times for the cut off to semifinals.



In the top speed race, the K1 200, the fastest in the final was Carlos Arévalo, who beated Pablo Andrés and Cristian Toro. This last one left off the podium the main favourite, Ekaitz Saies, by just two thousands of a second. Ekaitz clearly paid the price of the tough head to head trial he had with the Olympic Champion Saúl Craviotto just four days before. 

A bit later, it was time for the C1, where André Oliveira and David Maquieira, gold and silver in that order, left the bronze for the great David Cal, not racing his favourite distance. But he managed to claim gold at the 500 metres, where is the current olympic silver medalist twice in a row. This time it was Antonio Campos who got silver and David Maquieira got again on the podium, claiming bronze. 

Referring the women’s race, as it was said before, Teresa Portela won K1 200 (national trial at the same time). With her on the podium were Ainara Portela and Zomilla Hegyi, silver and bronze. Zomilla could next day take off the pressure of not qualifying for Poznan by winning the 500. She set an almost two seconds difference with Sonia Molanes, silver, and Isabel Contreras, bronze.

In the new discipline of the women C1 there was a single star: Patricia Coco won over the two distances with authority, followed also in both races by the same paddlers, Noelia Suárez and Raquel Rodríguez, in that order.

Over 500 metres for the Men Senior, the victory in K1 went to Íñigo Peña, who claimed a desired victory after being pulled out of the preolympic team by his rival and friend Francisco Cubelos over 1.000 metres one month ago. He beated this time Ekaitz Saies, silver, and Borja Prieto, bronze, in a very closed final. 

Talking about the doubles, who closed the weekend, Carlos Arévalo repeated victory over 200 with his partner Javier Benito, showing an impressive shape all over the Cup. Moisés Rodríguez and Isaac Toro went for silver and Alfonso Oreiro and Paulino Otero claimed bronze. Over 500 metres, good went to Víctor Javier Rodríguez and Diego Piña, who beated Nicolás Dono/Gabriel Campo and Joan Ardit/Óscar Carrera, silver and bronze in that order.

At the C2, victory over 200 for Yeray Picallo and André Oliveira, who also was the fastest canoeist of the Cup by winning both C1 and C2. Silver went to David Maquieira and Juan Ramón Bayón, being third the couple Xosé Francisco Vales and Alejandro Fraga. Over 500 metres, Picallo/Oliveira repeated victory, meanwhile silver went to Ángel Cristian Rivademar and Diego Romero and the Costa brothers, David and Daniel, got the bronze.

At the women’s races, Verónica Moreno and Sonia Molanes were the fastest at the 200, beating Ana Varela and Carla Pérez, silver, and Zorayma Cazorla and Ana Ruz, bronze. Over 500 metres, Moreno/Molanes went again for gold, this time with Cazorla/Ruz claiming silver and Isabel Contreras and Isabel Marín managed to claim bronze leaving Varela/Pérez out of the podium by one tenth of a second.

All the results, as long as the junior results, can be checked at this link.