2024-07-18 18:49:24
Ioana Georgieva qualified for the semi-final of the 500m single-person kayak for women under 23 at the Canoe-Kayak World Championships in Plovdiv.
The 21-year-old Bulgarian finished second in her series. She will fight to enter the final in the second of the three semi-final series – on Saturday (July 20) at 17:09 on the rowing channel in Plovdiv.
Ioana was declared for the World Under-23, Junior and Girls under the hills at the last minute after the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne ruled that she was not guilty of an anti-doping rule violation on July 15.
And shortly after the end of her first World race, the International Olympic Committee confirmed her participation for Bulgaria at the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris.
“I feel great, even more because justice has prevailed. I am happy that everything is in the past. And I look with all my strength only forward and up.
I am now mentally much calmer, much more confident. With renewed strength, I am participating in the Under-23 World Championship in Plovdiv.
I had no idea until the end if I would participate. Literally at the last moment they added me to the starting lists. I didn’t prepare specifically for this race, but I’m sure that with every next race I’ll get more and more fit and perform better.
I will give my all here – on my home track in front of my home crowd, to perform as well as possible. And life and health, then at the Olympic Games,” said Joana Georgieva.
Because of the temporary suspension of her competition rights on June 10, already canceled by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Ioana did not have the opportunity to conduct full-fledged training sessions with her coach.
“The period was very difficult for me, as I have been used to working with my coach Tsvetan Ivanov for many years. Whenever there is something, he corrects me. He tells me what to pay attention to, how things should happen.
Now that I had to prepare myself, and so close in time to the competition itself, it was extremely difficult. But I did my best to pull myself together as much as possible and do the training in the best possible way – both for myself and for my coach Tsvetan Ivanov,” Georgieva said.
She will turn 22 on July 31. At the beginning of August, he left for Paris, and on August 7, the series of 500 m single-person kayak at the Olympic Games.
“The fact that everything is now in order is the greatest gift that could happen to me for my birthday. I will give it my all, as I go to the Olympics very liberated mentally, although I will be competing against exceptional competition – with Olympic medalists, with much more experienced competitors than me.
I will actually be among the youngest there. But I’ll be free and try to have as much fun as possible. At the same time, I will give everything in order to qualify as best as possible and first”, commented Ioana Georgieva.
However, now she has to face the semi-final of the planet championship in Plovdiv. “The fact that the World Cup is on home soil, in front of a home audience, gives me even more strength and motivates me even more to succeed.
I will give everything I am capable of. And I believe that everything will be fine and I will present myself in the best possible way,” shared Ioana Georgieva.