 
Let the games beginBy James McBeath, Ken Whiting and Kevin Varette June 25, 2001 The first day of competition began in typical Spanish fashion… Intensely hot and sunny. All competitors gathered at the hole this morning for a tribute to the friends that have passed away in whitewater accidents over the past year, including the 3 that drowned in New Zealand around the time of the last world's (Niamh, Gunther, and Robin). After a short wait as the organizers got the advaced scoring system up and running, the competition was on.  Things started with the bravest group of the competition… the Open Canoers. The OC-1'ers threw themselves into the meat of the hole, with disregard for their body. In the end, New Zealander, Paul Eames, found himself on top with 2 controlled rides in the hole.
Next came the Junior Women, who put on a one of the best shows possible. Showing no fear for the intimidating rodeo hole, the girls dove in with everything they had. The spectators were treated to a mixture of impressively controlled runs, and magnificent poundings! When preliminaries ended, a Swede named Maria Lindgren came out on top thanks to the only splitwheel of the Junior Women's competition.  Close behind and also making the finals were BRENNA KELLEHER of the US, Kate Townsend of Canada, Becky Anderson of the US, and Emily Lussin of Canada.
The C-1'ers followed the junior women, and showed everyone what they were capable of with the extra leverage their high sitting position gives them. They threw the wicked cleans imaginable all the way across the pit, and stuck some of the sickest blunts imaginable. Former World Champion C-1'er, Cheesy Robertson of Great Britain ended up on top, showing his versatility as he has been ripping in the kayak as well. The top 10 men will move onto the semifinals later this week. Finally, the Junior Men started out, but they only made it through 4 of the 10 heats as time (and water) ran out on the organizers. The first few heats of Junior Men set the pace for the rest of the juniors tomorrow with some awesome runs. Marlow Long had the most impressive run of the day, though scores haven't yet been made available. This brings us to tomorrow, and a full day of competition. The judges will really be put to the test as the remainder of the Junior men's heats will be taken care of, followed by the Women's K-1 and the Men's K-1. Already, the Sort location has proven to be one of the finest World Championship sites possible, and there's lots of action to come! OFFICIAL RESULTS FOR THE DAY (care of the Spanish scoring system): MENS/WOMENS (UNISEX) C1 PRELIMINARIES MENS/WOMENS (UNISEX) OC1 PRELIMINARIES JR WOMENS PRELIMINARIES Competition Day 1 Videos: Barry Kennon - C1 (916 kb) Dustin Urban Squirting (2.2 MB) Graham Harada - C1 (860 kb) Simon Westgarth - OC1 (1.1 MB) Cindy Jamieson - Squirt Andre Spino Smith - JR men(858 kb) Marlow Long (551 kb) Junior Women under control (1.7 MB) Junior Women out of control (3.7 MB) Back to Worlds Coverage
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