The penultimate competition day of the 2018 ECA Canoe Marathon European Championships in Metković, Croatia, brought senior K1 and C1 events in women’s and men’s categories. Liudmyla Babak from Ukraine is the new C1 women European Champion, Antonio Manuel Campos was the fastest in men’s C1 race, Renata Csay won in women’s K1 race and Jose Ramalho in men’s K1 event.
The legend of canoe marathon Renata Csay from Hungary did it again. She was the fastest in women’s K1 race of the European Championships in Croatia. In the final stages of the race she pushed really hard to create a gap between her and other competitors. At the end she had a little over a minute advantage. This is her 16th European Championships medal, 15th gold.
Her compatriot Zsofia Czellai – Voros who already won the U23 European Champion title here in Metković this week was second and Lizzie Broughton from Great Britain was third.
In men’s C1 race we have also seen a familiar face on the podium. Antonio Manuel Campos from Spain won the European Champion title and his 21st medal at European and World Championships. Rui Lacerda form Portugal was second and Jakub Brezina from Czech Republic third.
“It was a pretty fun race and a little tactical at first. No one decided to lead, we had a big group of canoeists paddling together. Until the first portage no one decided to collaborate. The decisive part of the race was when Portuguese and me decided to escape. We started to work together and paddle together. This is my 21st medal at European and World Championships. I’ll need to make a bigger house to store all the medals, but for this you always find place,” said Campos after the medal ceremony.
In women’s C1 event Ukraine’s Liudmyla Babak confirmed the favourite role she had before the event started. She had a minute and 38 seconds advantage over Croatian representative Vanesa Tot who quite surprisingly took the silver medal. Another Ukrainian paddler Mariia Honcharova was third.
Another exciting race was afternoon’s men’s kayak event. Jose Ramalho from Portugal defended his European Champion title. Furthermore, this is his fifth consecutive European champion title. There was a group of paddlers paddling most of the race together but Ramalho came to the last portage with a bit of advantage he was able to retain until the end.
Two Hungarian paddlers joined him on the podium. Adrian Boros was second and Krisztian Mathe third.
On Sunday the championships will conclude with C2M, K2W and K2M events.
Results: http://metkovic2018.spotfokus.com/home?gmt=2&gmt2=-120
Livestreaming is available on Canoe Europe Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/CanoeEurope
7.7.2018
