South Tyrol's best canoeist retires at the age of 23: The reasons

The most successful slalom canoeist in South Tyrol, Jakob Weger (23) from Schenna, no longer has any motivation to take part in canoe slalom competitions. He ended his professional career. 4 Burggräfler slalom canoeists have made their sport their profession for several years, including Jakob Weger. All 4 belonged to the Marine sports group. More than 40 years ago, the C2 slalom canoeists, Volker Klotz and Alfred Platzer, completed their military service with the marine sports group and continued for a few more years. After the Canoe Slalom World Championships in Meran in 1983, the two ended their careers. The 3rd SCM slalom canoeist was Lukas Mayr, who paddled for the marine sports group for 4 years. Jakob Weger, who celebrates his 3th birthday on May 24rd, was a member of the marine sports group for 3 years and in the national team for 7 years. At the end of August he competed in his last canoe competition for the marine sports group with the canoe slalom Italian championship in Mezzana am Sulzberg. After the end of the season, he decided to leave the sports group and end his career as a professional paddler. “My motivation to take part in canoe slalom competitions has decreased significantly. My back problems also motivated me to do this. “I was also more drawn to other sports, such as mountain sports, snowboarding, climbing and paragliding,” says Jakob Weger, explaining his reasons for ending his professional paddling career. Weger has already successfully completed snowboard freeride competitions in the winter. “Due to various coaching changes in the national team, the team atmosphere was no longer as good as before. A lot of pressure was put on the athletes,” says Jakob Weger. “Another reason for the decision to no longer paddle for the marine sports group was that the sport kept me so busy that I no longer had time for my studies,” explains Weger. Schenner is completing a distance learning course in economics at the University of Hagen in Germany. Jakob Weger won 7 medals in major canoe slalom events for the U18 and U23 in the kayak single sculls, 4 in the individual and 3 in the K1 team race. His greatest success was the U23 World Championship title in the kayak single sculls in Ivrea in 2018. At that time he also won World Championship silver in the K1 team run. He sensationally won his first individual title in 2014 at the U18 European Championships in Skopje (North Macedonia). In 2016, despite pain in the final run, he was able to repeat this feat at the U18 European Championships in Solkan/Neugörz (Slovenia) and win the second individual title in the kayak single sculls.

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South Tyrol's best canoeist retires at the age of 23: The reasons

Slalom canoeist Jakob Weger is ending his professional career with Marine-Sportgruppe after 3 years. Schenner spoke to s+ about the background.

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