Whitehorse Daily Star

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MAKING THE GATE – Whitehorse kayaker Mael Pronovost competed in the slalom events over the last 3 1/weeks in the European Junior Cup as a reserve member of the national team. Photos by JANE LONDERO

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FUTURE PLANS – Mael Pronovost plans on taking another run at making the national team to represent Canada at the world championships next May in Brazil. Photos by JANE LONDERO

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Photos by JANE LONDERO

Pronovost fares well in European Junior Cup tour

Whitehorse teenager Mael Pronovost is no stranger to success in his kayak locally and even nationally.

By Chuck Tobin on July 10, 2018

Whitehorse teenager Mael Pronovost is no stranger to success in his kayak locally and even nationally.

He’s just added what he believes is a substantial accomplishment on the European Junior Cup circuit in the slalom event.

Pronovost earned his way into a final on Sunday in Slokan, Slovenia, and came out ranked 25th in the field of 100 or more junior kayakers in the under-19 class.

“It was really good for sure,” he said of his result in a telephone interview Monday from Frankfurt, Germany.

“I was very happy with that.”

Pronovost was in Europe travelling with Canada’s national team, though he’s not a member of the team he is on the junior reserve squad and has been training with the team on the European tour, just as other reserve paddlers from B.C., Alberta and Ontario have been.

In Europe, slalom kayaking is much bigger and much more competitive than it is in Canada, he said.

For the past 3 1/2 weeks, he’s been paddling in Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Slovakia as part of the junior cup tour.

The different events presented a variety of white water but not matter where they were the courses were tough and challenging, he said. While Pronovost spent the winter paddling at the World Class Kayak Academy in Oregon, he wasn’t working on slalom training, so he’s particularly pleased with his result.

Pronovost tried out for the national team in May but didn’t make it.

The 17-year-old – his birthday was last week – said in two weeks the national team will have another tryout in Kananaskis, Alta., for the next world championships in slalom and freestyle kayaking.

Pronovost plans to be there.

The slalom world championships will be held next May in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but no location has been announced yet for the freestyle event.

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