Fernando Pimenta, the renowned canoeist, played it smart on Saturday at the Milan World Championships. He easily secured his place in the K1 500-meter final. This key step happened just hours before his most important race of the event: defending his K1 1,000-meter world title. It was a clear sign of his strategic thinking.
In the 500-meter race, Pimenta crossed the finish line in third place with a time of 1 minute, 39.20 seconds. Spain’s Alex Graneri was quicker, beating Pimenta by 0.79 seconds. Graneri also finished 0.48 seconds ahead of Uruguay’s Matias Ezcurra, who took second. Pimenta later shared his thoughts, calling it “a good race” with “a good start.”
“I got to a point where I was trying to manage my effort a little,” Pimenta explained. “I have the K1 1000-meter final this afternoon. My coach asked me to try and tire myself as little as possible to save energy.” He achieved his goal of making the final, stating, “Getting the spot in the final, in third, was the objective. The final will be another story.”
Despite the K1 500-meter final scheduled for Sunday at 9:40 AM Lisbon time, Pimenta wasn’t focusing on it yet. His eyes were firmly on the K1 1000-meter race, set for 1:56 PM that same day. For him, this was the absolute highlight of these championships.
Pimenta fully expects a tough fight in the longer race. “The K1 1000-meter final will be very disputed, right from the start, for sure,” he predicted. “There will be athletes who will want to show their strength immediately.” His experience suggests he knows exactly what to prepare for.
Adding to the challenge, Pimenta revealed he had a difficult night of sleep. Noise from a bar next to his hotel forced him to switch rooms at 3 AM. It’s a testament to his focus that he still performed so well under such circumstances.
This veteran athlete arrived in Milan with an impressive record from the 2023 World Championships in Duisburg, Germany. There, he won the K1 1000-meter World title. He also earned a silver medal in the K1 5000-meter race and a bronze in the K1 500-meter event.
So far, Portugal has claimed one medal at the competition in Italy. The K4 500-meter team, made up of Gustavo Gonçalves, João Ribeiro, Messias Baptista, and Pedro Casinha, proudly won a gold.