The kayakers who will represent Lithuania at the Paris Olympic Games have been announced Sports

At last year’s world championship, the kayak and canoe team won Olympic tickets for Lithuania in two events – the two-man kayak 500 m distance and the four-man kayak 500 m distance. In the Lithuanian Cup competition, it became clear who will represent our country in these distances.

The same crews that won Olympic tickets triumphed in Trakai and secured tickets to Paris. Mindaugas Maldonis and Andrejus Olijniks were unbeaten in the 500 m distance of double kayaks. The winners covered the distance in 1 minute. 33.705 sec. and overtook the closest pursuers by 2.364 seconds.

“We set the highest goals. It is the part of every athlete to set the highest possible goals. How realistic it will be, we will see on the day of the start of the Olympic Games. Lithuanians are the elite of the world, so anything can happen at the Olympic Games. According to the result achieved today, it seems that during the preparation for the season we are traveling to where we would like to be”, said M. Maldonis, who will compete in the second Olympic Games in a row.

“You wouldn’t want to push everything too much at the beginning of the season, because there are still three months left until the Olympic Games. We are glad that the passport is already in our pockets and now we can calmly prepare for the Olympic Games. Just as there is a saying in basketball that the ball is round, so we have a saying that everyone is equal at the start. And how it will be at the finish, we will see in Paris”, said in 2016. A. Olijniks, who participated in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The favorites also won the four-man kayak 500 m competition. Simonas Maldonis, Mindaugas Maldonis, Ignas Navakauskas and Artūras Seja covered the distance in 1 minute. 23.28 sec. and confidently became winners and secured a place in the Olympic Games.

The fourth place left in second place, rowed by Olympic prizewinner Edvinas Ramanauskas, world championship prizewinner Ričardas Nekriošius and Tomas Jusevičius and Viktoras Čaplinskis, lost to the winners by 2.732 seconds.

“I have mixed feelings because I still don’t understand what really happened. The start at the Olympic Games will officially formalize twenty years of work. But this is not yet the limit, it is only one of the steps. We will try to achieve as much as possible at the Olympic Games”, asserted S. Maldonis, who is going to the first Olympic Games in his career.

“I am happy that we have now officially qualified for the Olympics. After a long break, I will return to the Olympics again. I am very happy about that. A lot of people have already written me off, because I’m already quite a few years old. But I’m just now getting into the best shape of my life. I believe in our team, we are strong and we will try to do a lot in the Olympic Games”, said I. Navakauskas, who started in Rio de Janeiro.

“I still don’t know the feeling of participating in the Olympic Games. There is still a lot of work to be done before the Olympics and I hope we will do something good there. We will raise the goals little by little. First you need to get to the final, that would be very good. Our sport is very unpredictable. At the World Championships, only three tenths of a second separated several crews from a medal. Therefore, if we get to the finals, we can definitely win an Olympic medal,” said A. Seja, who will make his debut at the Olympic Games.

The last tickets to the kayak and canoe competitions of the Paris Olympic Games will be distributed in the additional qualifying competitions on May 8-9. in Hungary.

Henrikas Žustautas and Vadimas Korobovs, who won the Lithuanian Cup in the double canoe 500 m distance, will go to the Olympic selection. After the Lithuanian Cup competition, it will be decided which crews are able to compete for Olympic tickets and will go to the Olympic selection.