Seat in hand luggage

“Taking boats on the plane is a lottery”

Corinna Kuhnle, Felix Oschmautz and Viktoria Wolffhardt (from left to right)(Bild: GEPA)

Austria's flat-water canoeists will be the first members of the Austrian Olympic team to travel to the French capital for the Paris Games next Friday. The preferred boats of Corinna Kuhnle, Viktoria Wolffhardt and Felix Oschmautz have, of course, already been on site for some time, with transportation by land. The OKV trio emphasized that this would be too delicate by plane, as the risk of damage would be too great.

There were plenty of opportunities to store the boats, as they practiced on the Paris whitewater course time and again - most recently just last week. "We have already left the boats there from the training camps and they are stored there temporarily. Because flying with the boats is always such a risk factor," explained Viktoria Wolffhardt, who definitely only jumped on the Olympic bandwagon at the beginning of July. "Something can always happen. And if the Olympic boat gets a crack and is completely destroyed, that would be bad."

The athlete from Tulln is currently completing a few flat water sessions in her home country, in Paris she is relying on a very specific boat for the single canoe, which she already knows better. Others have a reserve boat, as she knows, and Oschmautz does too. He already stored a boat in Paris last October, but he is hoping to win a medal in another boat. "The second boat was added in the spring and that's what I decided on. The only difference is that it's newer than the other one."

For the Carinthian, it is important that he has a boat of equal value in reserve. "That's particularly important because it doesn't interfere with training." Transportation on the roof rack or by trailer instead of by plane is a matter of course for the Olympic fourth-placer from Tokyo 2021 in the single kayak. "You try to fly as little as possible with these boats because they are made of carbon. That's enough if they get jammed or fall off somewhere." Kayak specialist Kuhnle agrees: "Taking the boats on a plane is a lottery."

"... then it would be difficult"
The three-time Olympic participant also relies on a particular boat. "I feel comfortable in it. I drove it in the competitions during the season, it's well broken in." Kuhnle brings her seat for the boat in her hand luggage. "I have it in my bag. I feel best with it, so I always take it back and forth." Overland transportation is made easier by the fact that most of the whitewater facilities are in Europe. "Nothing has ever happened to us during air transportation. But if they smash the boat, it would be difficult."