Cubelos keeps being the representative of Spain at the K1 1,000 by winning Spanish Cup

Cubelos, Hernanz and Llamedo during the A final. Picture: La Voz de Galicia

After 1,000m Spanish Cup, held this weekend at the dam of Verducido (Galicia), Francisco Cubelos has managed to retain his titularity in the K1 1,000 to represent Spain in the three most important international championships to be held in 2013: European Championships at Montemor-o-Velho (POR), the World Championships at Duisburg (GER) and the Mediterranean Games at Mersin (TUR).

On a very headwindy field, the races were very tough. Imagine that the winning time was 4'04'', when Cubelos himself won on the same venue the pre-Olympic selective for Poznan 2012 in 3'31''. Maybe that environment is what made possible some surprises (although some are less so), as the bronze medal of Emilio Llamedo, who managed to sneak into the podium beating some of the best specialists in the country, like Diego Cosgaya who was finally fourth. Llamedo proved to be in great shape after winning the 5,000 in Seville. This time he was surpassed by the two main favorites Cubelos and Hernanz. This last one kept being a safe bet in his rendez-vous with the podium over 1,000 (he also took silver in the K2 with his new teammate Borja Prieto), but recognized afterwards being a bit disappointed taking so many silvers in the last competitions.

In Women, clear victory for Isabel Contreras, who showed great superiority with adverse wind conditions, ahead of the revelation so far this spring, Ana Martinez Sanjurjo, in four seconds. Ana was the winner in U23 and surpassed in a few tenths Eva Barrios, who took bronze.

At the Men C1, victory for Diego Romero, which already had showed in Seville being very strong. The surprise was the Sevillian Mohammad Amar sneaking to take silver ahead of Antonio Campos, who always starts among the favorites for victory. Again the U23 demonstrating that our canoe field has a good future ahead. Also in C1, Junior winner Sergio Vallejo, also winner in both the 2,000 and 5,000 in Seville four weeks ago, so he's showing a great performance in this early season. The same has been achieved in Junior Women C1 by Jenifer Casal, who even made better time than the Senior gold, claimed by Arantxa Gómez.

Two other paddlers who are not giving a chance to their rivals are Junior kayakers Pedro Vázquez and Miriam Vega, who clearly won their respective finals and are clear favorites to represent Spain in the Junior international competitions this year, where we think they have good chances of playing a nice role. Specially keep an eye on Pedro Vázquez, who is just 16 years old and he's leaving a good feeling facing the next two years.

You can check the full results, including crew boats (which were not deciding any international spot) at this link (in Spanish).