Matija Marinić

Junior

Matija began paddling in 1997 with Kajak Kanu Klub Zagreb after transitioning from water polo.^[2][4] He made his international debut in 2006 aged 15, competing at the Junior European Championships and Junior World Championships in Nottingham and Solkan, respectively. He finished 27th at both events.^[10][11]

In 2008 Matija made the finals at both junior international events, finishing 10th at the Europeans (after incurring a 50-second penalty) and 6th at the Worlds.^[12][13] During this time he also competed at the U23 level, finishing 8th in C1 team at the Europeans in 2007 and 2008.^[14] Matija competed in several World Cups as a Junior and achieved a 15th place at the 2008 event on his "home" course in Tacen.^[15]

U23

Marinić began competing at the U23 level in 2010, finishing 9th at the U23 European Championships in Markkleeberg.^[16] In the same year he competed at the senior World Championships in Tacen and finished in 13th place, aged 19.^[17] He competed in the inaugural edition of the ICF World U23 Canoe Slalom Championships in 2012 in Wausau, Wisconsin and finished in 29th place.^[18] He competed in the same event again in 2013 in Liptovský Mikuláš, improving to 18th place.^[19]

In 2011 Matija won a silver medal in C1 at the U23 European Championships in neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina and bettered this achievement two years later by becoming the 2013 U23 European Champion in Bourg-Saint-Maurice.^[14] Matija also won a bronze medal at the 2013 Canoe Slalom World Cup in Tacen.

Senior

Marinić finished in 42nd place at the 2015 World Championships in Lee Valley which doubled as a qualification event for the 2016 Summer Olympics, missing out on automatic qualification. His only other chance to qualify was at the 2016 European Championships in Liptovský Mikuláš. Matija finished in 11th place at this event, just short of the top ten and the opportunity to race Ander Elosegi for the European quota.^[20]

At the 2019 World Championships in La Seu d'Urgell, Matija finished in 12th place, automatically qualifying for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo as the 10th ranked NOC.^[21] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the only two major competitions Matija competed in between the 2019 Worlds and the Olympic Games were the 2020 and 2021 European Championships, where he finished in 16th and 14th place, respectively.^[14]

Matija has dealt with knee issues since he was 18, due to the awkward sitting position required for C1. Following the announcement of the postponement of the 2020 Games, he underwent knee surgery so as to not be held back by his injury and to be "faster and better" at the delayed 2021 Games.^[7] Marinić spent the winter leading into the Olympics training at Wadi Adventure in the United Arab Emirates with fellow Croatian Ren Korpes.^[22] In the lead-up to the postponed Games he won an ICF World Ranking race in April in Tacen,^[9] and made the final of the 2021 Canoe Slalom World Cup in Prague, where he finished in third place but was disqualified for a delayed start.^[23]

On 13 July 2021, 8 days after arriving in Tokyo to prepare for the 2020 Summer Olympics, Matija and coach Stjepan were sent into self-isolation by the Olympic organisers due to there being an infected passenger on their flight.^[24] They were initially required to self-isolate for a week but were allowed to return to training on the 15 July, two days later, following an appeal by the president of the Croatian Olympic Committee Zlatko Mateša.^[25] Mateša publicly criticized the handling of the issue, calling it a "glaring example of the inability of the organizers to deal with the problems associated with the pandemic".^[26]

Matija finished in 11th place in the C1 event at the 2020 Games, after being eliminated in the semi-final.^[6]

World Cup individual podiums

Complete World Cup results

More information Year, WC1 ...

Year	WC1	WC2	WC3	WC4	WC5	Points	Position
2008	Prague	Tacen 30	Augsburg 32	Continent		24	46th
2008	Continent	Prague 27	Tacen 15	Augsburg		44	39th
2009	Continent	Pau 32	Bratislava	Augsburg		2	65th
2010	Continent 17	Prague 20	La Seu	Augsburg 27		60	26th
2011	Tacen 7	L'Argentière	Markkleeberg	Prague 34		42	35th
2012	Cardiff	Pau	La Seu	Prague 32	Bratislava	2	69th
2013	Cardiff	Augsburg 13	La Seu	Tacen 3	Bratislava	80	22nd
2014	Lee Valley 24	Tacen 11	Prague 20	La Seu 25	Augsburg 34	91	24th
2015	Prague 33	Kraków 14	Liptovský Mikuláš 24	La Seu 15	Pau 31	78	27th
2016	Ivrea 25	La Seu 22	Pau 25	Prague	Tacen 16	105	21st
2017	Prague 23	Augsburg 34	Markkleeberg	Ivrea	La Seu 32	23	44th
2018	Liptovský Mikuláš 15	Kraków 26	Augsburg 27	Tacen 16	La Seu 26	105	22nd
2019	Lee Valley 51	Bratislava	Tacen 7	Markkleeberg	Prague 23	80	28th
2020	Tacen 4	Pau 13				N/A[a]
2021	Prague 10[b]	Markkleeberg 14	La Seu	Pau 13		123	14th

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Notes
^a No overall rankings were determined by the ICF, with only two races possible due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
^b Marinić finished 3rd but was disqualified from the final, being classified 10th.

Complete Championship Results

More information Year, Level ...

Year	Level	Venue	Event	Result
2006	Junior World	Solkan	C1	27th
	Junior European	Nottingham	C1	27th
2007	U23 European	Kraków	C1 team	8th
	Junior European		C1	18th
2008	European	Kraków	C1 team	8th
			C1	25th
	U23 European	Solkan	C1 team	8th
	Junior European		C1	10th
	Junior World	Roudnice	C1	6th
2010	U23 European	Markkleeberg	C1	9th
	European	Bratislava	C1	27th
	World	Tacen	C1	13th
2011	European	La Seu d'Urgell	C1	20th
	U23 European	Banja Luka	C1 team	9th
			C1	2nd
	World	Bratislava	C1	29th
2012	European	Augsburg	C1	31st
	U23 World	Wausau	C1	29th
	U23 European	Solkan	C1	22nd
2013	European	Kraków	C1	15th
	U23 World	Liptovský Mikuláš	C1	18th
	U23 European	Bourg-Saint-Maurice	C1	1st
	World	Prague	C1	22nd
2014	European	Vienna	C1	17th
	World	Deep Creek	C1	27th

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More information Year, Level ...

Year	Level	Venue	Event	Result
2015	European	Markkleeberg	C1	19th
	World	Lee Valley	C1	42nd
2016	European	Liptovský Mikuláš	C1	11th
2017	European	Tacen	C1	30th
	World	Pau	C1	42nd
2018	European	Prague	C1	30th
	World	Rio de Janeiro	C1	15th
2019	European	Pau	C1	29th
	World	La Seu d'Urgell	C1	11th
2020	European	Prague	C1	16th
2021	European	Ivrea	C1	14th
	Olympic	Tokyo	C1	11th
	World	Bratislava	C1	17th

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