VAIRES-SUR-MARNE, France — Evy Leibfarth made some “mistakes” in her kayak slalom semifinal race Sunday at the Stade Nautique de Vaires-sur-Marne, but by failing to reach the final in her first event at the Paris Olympics, Leibfarth said she feels more prepared to win medals in her next two events.
“The gates will be in the same location and for those who are not familiar with the sport, we won’t be able to practice with them until race day,” Leibfarth said. “So having that experience already paddling through the gates and having a feel for where they are and where the water is moving, all of that is really crucial because even though canoeing is very different, I think it’s a lot smoother, you use a lot more water, you get the feel, you’re still navigating the same rapids and having that feel is really important.”
Leibfarth, world number 19 in kayak slalom, finished 15th in her semi-final out of 22 entrants with a time of 1:09.54. She was given a two-second penalty for hitting gate number 19 with her paddle, but even without the penalty she would have been one step away from achieving the qualifying time.
Australia’s Jessica Fox won gold in the 12-person final in 50.05 seconds. Fox, the Australian flag bearer and world’s top kayak slalom racer, has won one silver and two bronze medals in the event at the past three Olympics.
Poland’s Klaudia Zwolinska won silver on Sunday and Britain’s Kimberly Woods took bronze.
2024 Olympic medals: Who’s leading the medal count? Follow the prompts to keep track of medals for each sport.
Leibfarth, 20, has a grueling schedule at this year’s Olympics, competing in all three slalom events.
The individual canoe heats begin on Tuesday, with semifinals and finals on Wednesday, and the first of potentially four consecutive days of competition in the new Olympic sport of kayak cross is on Friday.
Fox and Zwolinska will also be competing at all three events.
“Completing three events is really intense because not only are you out there giving your best physically every day, but it’s also very demanding mentally,” Leibfarth said. “It’s hard to recover after each race and approach each day with the same confidence and the same optimism, so it’s definitely very tiring. We’re out here, our races are 90 seconds, hopefully, but we’re out there for an hour and a half warming up before, another 30 minutes to cool down after, so it’s quite long days.”
➤ The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news, fast. Download to access award-winning coverage, crossword puzzles, audio narrations, the e-newspaper and more..
Leibfarth said she was feeling confident on Sunday after a strong performance in Saturday’s qualifying round, where she placed fourth behind Fox, Zwolinska and France’s Camille Prigent.
“Today was a very difficult course and I went out there to give it my best shot,” he said. “And I made a few mistakes. They changed a couple of moves on the course to make it more difficult, for example, in one you have to go backwards through a gate and then get on a wave and ride it. I lost a lot of time there. There’s another move where I lost some time.”
With no events planned for Monday, Leibfarth said he planned to give his body and mind a break by walking around the Olympic Village with friends and maybe drawing some portraits.
She said she’s excited about kayak cross, where competitors launch themselves from an elevated platform and race through a closed course.
“It’s just being aware of your surroundings, knowing where the other girls are and you have to really want it because it’s a contact sport so you have to be really aware of it,” she said.
And she said she feels “really confident” in canoe slalom.
“My goal is just to go out and run a race that I’m proud of,” she said. “I’m not going to share my goals, but I feel good about it.”
