João Ribeiro and Messias Baptista world champions in K2 500m

STATEMENTS TO BTV

Another gold medal for Benfica in the 2023 World Speed Championships, in Duisburg. The day after Fernando Pimenta's win, João Ribeiro and Messias Baptista made an irreproachable race and finished 1st in the K2 500m final.

The Benfica canoeists completed the distance in 1:29,037 minutes, ahead of the Hungarians Bence Nadas and Balint Kopasz (1:29,184 minutes) and the Spaniards Adrian Del Rio and Rodrigo Germade (1:29,389 minutes). With this result, João Ribeiro and Messias Baptista also qualified for 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. 

"We were candidates, but the level was very high and we could both win and stay ninth. In the last World Cup we had ranked 5th, in the European Games we were 4th after my mistake. Always on the doorstep, but today [Sunday] was the moment. I have one of the best behind me and it was easy to take this test. Messias [Baptista] has a fantastic self-esteem and gives me a lot of confidence", said João Ribeiro, who dedicated the victory to his daughter, who is hospitalized: "These days have been very difficult. This victory is for her."

For his part, Messias Baptista stressed the belief of the team: "I’m still not sure what to feel. We knew that the first or the ninth places were possible, as João [Ribeiro] said. Today [Sunday], it went well, at the end of the race there was a different belief."