WITH competitors aware that the prospects of the canoe slalom being reinstated to the Sydney Olympic programme said to be finely balanced, the buildup to this summer's hectic World Cup series enters its final stages this weekend, with two of Ireland's leading slalom paddlers among a top class entry racing in Bovec, Slovenia.
Tomorrow's opening Corona Cup race will be the first opportunity for Ian Wiley and Canadian canoeist Mike Corcoran to test the international waters this season.
Their opposition - including former World champion kayaker Pierpaulo Ferrazz - will have the added inducement of international slalom's first ever cash prize.
The £2,000 on offer tomorrow and another unspecified amount for the overall winner of the Corona Series is the sport's first attempt to establish a money circuit for its professional athletes and comes as a welcome incentive as negotiations about canoe slalom's Olympic future continue.
Support now exists within the city's organising committee after their original Aus$6 million cost projections were halved, but opposition from Australia's Olympic minister Michael Knight is said to remain an obstacle. A final decision is expected by the end of September.
