Romanian canoeist Catalin Chirila on Friday advanced to the C1 M 500m final at the 2024 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Chirila won heat three, clocking in at 01:54.412, more than six seconds ahead of Polish Wiktor Glazunow (02:00.581).

The 26-year-old athlete of CSA Steaua is the reigning world champion, and in Paris he ranked ninth in the Olympic C1 M 1000m event.

The best time of the heats was set by Czech Martin Fuksa, who won heat two in 01:52.280.

In heat one, Moldovan Serghei Tarnovschi won in 01:56.319.

Final A is scheduled for Sunday.

On Saturday, Chirila will also compete in the C1 M 200m heats.

At the 2023 World Championships in Duisburg, Romania won a gold medal in the C1 M 500m single canoe event, a silver medal in the C1 M 1000m single canoe event, plus a bronze medal in the C2 M 1000m double canoe captured by Nuta and Sprincean.

AGERPRES