Cuban canoeists win two World Cup titles

Cuban canoeists Yarisleidis Cirilo and Jose Ramon Pelier won gold medals at the Olympic Canoe Sprint World Cup in Barnaul, Russia.

Cirilo, who qualified for Tokyo 2020, won the women's C-1 200m with a time of 00:48.736, surpassing Chilean Maria Mailliard (00:49.297) and Russian Irina Andreeva (00:49.473).

Katherin Nuevo, also from Cuba, finished eighth with a time of 00:49.107.

Pelier won the men's C-1 1000m with a time of 04:03.063.

Cuban Fernando Dayan Jorge (04:07.523) and Italian Carlo Tacchini (04:08.582) finished second and third, respectively.

Pelier won his knockout heat in the C-1 500m with a time of 01:54.424, ahead of Moldovan Oleg Tarnovschi (01:56.209) and Lithuanian Vadim Korobov (01:58.050).

Pelier will seek to advance to the grand final, to take place on Sunday, while Cirilo and Nuevo will do so in the C-2 500m, while Serguey Torres and Fernando Dayan Jorne, also from Cuba, will do so in the C-1 5000m.