Canadian kayak stars miss podium in World Cup opener

Canada's top kayaking stars Emilie Fournel and Mark de Jonge will be coming home with final appearances, but without a medal from the season-opening World Cup event in Duisberg, Germany on Sunday.

Fournel, of Montreal, finished the women's K1 500 metres event in sixth place with a time of one minute, 50.400 seconds.

Hungary's Danuta Kozak raced to the gold medal in a time of 1:47.071 while New Zealand's Lisa Carrington (1:48.196) took silver and  Azerbaijan's Inna Osipenko-Rodomska (1:48.368) won bronze.

De Jonge, the reigning world champion from Halifax, completed the men's K1 200m in 35.389 for eighth place, behind winner Manfredi Rizza of Italy (34.353).

Canadian teammates Katie Vincent and Nadya Crossman-Serb finished just off the podium in the C2 500m, completing the race in 2:03.639.

Vincent won gold in the C1 200m event on Saturday.