A member of the Australian U23 team, Liam Stephen, says that the first impressions of the river Vrbas and Banja Luka are more than good and that he expects his team to win a gold medal.
He emphasized that they had a long and difficult trip to Banja Luka, but that now, after a little rest, everything is fine.
– We travelled first from Melbourne to Dubai, then from Dubai here and that whole adventure lasted more than 26 hours. Immediately upon arrival at the hotel we rested nicely and slept, and then we went for a short walk, sightseeing and toured the Kastel fortress.
Did you see the part where the opening ceremony will be?
– Everyone else saw it except me. While they were looking around, I stayed in the room to sort out some more things.
What are your first impressions of people here and the city of Banja Luka?
– The people are very kind, the whole area and the city are good. The city is very quiet and the temperatures are pleasant.
Summer starts here while you have winter in Australia. Did you need time to adjust?
– Surprisingly not. Though, it was hard to get used to the water because it is very cold.
What are your first impressions of the Vrbas river? You had two training sessions. What were they like?
– Everything was great! The other day when we accidentally fell into the river and had to swim to shore, we noticed that the water is much colder than in Australia.
What is the path like, is it difficult?
– The river is quite wild. It is technically very good and has a large flow of running water that we are not used to.
What do you expect from the championship?
– We expect a gold medal, but above all to have a good time and have fun.