Germany's Florian Breuer made a solid start to his men's under-23 C1 title defence today ©ICF

Defending champion Florian Breuer progressed to the men’s C1 semi-finals after posting the fourth quickest time of the International Canoe Federation Canoe Slalom Under-23 and Junior World Championships.

On the opening day of action at the event, which was preceded by an opening ceremony yesterday, the German paddler clocked a time of 95.14sec in the under-23 heats at Divoka Voda-Cunovo in Slovakia’s capital Bratislava.

Lukas Rohan of the Czech Republic qualified with the fastest time of 92.63, with Slovakian Marko Mirgorodsky 1.07 behind him.

Another Czech competitor, Vaclav Chaloupka, qualified in third with a time of 95.05.

Despite not recording one of the top three times today, Breuer said he was still happy with his effort.

“It was a safe run and now I’m onto the next run, so that’s great,” he said.

An opening ceremony was held yesterday as the young paddlers came to Bratislava ©ICF
An opening ceremony was held yesterday as the young paddlers came to Bratislava ©ICF

“I’m looking forward to getting the chance to defend my title, but it will be hard because everyone else is keeping up.

“We will see what comes around.

“There is some pressure on you, but I like it.”

In the men’s C1 junior competition, Czech duo Vojtech Heger and Matyas Lhota topped the timesheets in the heats, clocking 96.45 and 96.62 respectively.

Alexis Bobon of France was the third fastest with a time of 102.12.

The Czech team had more success in the under-23 mixed C2 heats as Jana Matulkova and Adam Lerch qualified in first place, completing the course in 124.73.