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The 22-year-old Italian paddler Cecilia Panato, daughter of wildwater canoeing legend Vladi Panato, celebrated two gold medals on the opening day of the 2024 ECA Junior and U23 Wildwater Canoeing European Championships in Dallenwil, Switzerland. First, she produced the best run in women's U23 K1 classic race (14:32.901) and had almost 14 seconds advantage over British paddler Kerry Christie who was second, while Czech Klara Vankova won bronze medal in this event.

 

Panato was once again without competition in women's U23 C1 classic race. With a time 15:49.691 she was 18 seconds faster than Laura Fontaine from France, who is the reigning senior European and World Champion in sprint. Bronze medal of this event went to the hands of Czech representative Anna Retkova (+18.375).

 

Czechia was otherwise dominating on the opening day of the Championships, winning seven gold, five silver and seven bronze medals. Ondrej Kvapil was the first Czech paddler of the day who won gold medal, he succeeded in men's junior canoe classic race, where his teammate Filip Kutin finished second and Croatian canoeist Janko Presecki third.

 

Matej Vanek (CZE) was the fastest in classic race of men's U23 C1 event, he stopped the clock at 15:09.406, four seconds faster than French paddler Louis Passernig in second place, and almost seven seconds ahead of Adam Ondrich (CZE) in third position.

 

The third Czech gold medal of the day was won by Mika Hynek, who was unbeatable in men's junior K1 event. He had 21 seconds advantage in the finish. German kayakers Philipp Bluhm and Finn Vogler were second and third respectively.

 

Samuel Vejnar, Vojtech Matejicek and Jan Sindelar dominated in men's kayak U23 classic event taking all three podium positions for Czechia. The top three Czechs came into the finish within two and a half seconds, while the next best athlete was already five seconds behind.

 

Another triple Czech win was celebrated in women's junior canoe event, where Magdalena Mala, Sandra Bergmannova and Marie Vrbova will receive medals for their excellent performance.

 

Medallists of canoe and kayak U23 events Adam Ondrich and Samuel Vejnar joined forces to claim European Champion title in men's U23 C2 classic race. Swiss favourites Jonah Muller and Cornel Bretscher won the first medal of the championships for host nation finishing in second position, and Czechs Matej Vanek and Karel Rasner were third.

 

Anna Vikova and Beta Beirova (CZE) were the best in women's junior C2 event, British duo Ciara Maloney and Elsie Landsborough picked up silver medal, and Spanish Noa Diaz Quintain and Ximena Prats Moreiras were third in this race.

 

Marguerite De Hasque from Belgium is the new junior European Champion in women's kayak classic. The young athlete produced almost four seconds faster time than her closest rival Anna Vikova from Czechia who finished second, while Italian Cecilia Leonori won bronze medal.

 

Robin Bienassis - Paul Deleplanque and Gabriel Dominique Daniel Auvolat - Emile Pichard were first and second respectively in men's C1 junior event claiming double win for France. Toman Retek and Vaclav Retek (CZE) finished their first championships performance in third place.

 

In the last event of the day Christie sisters - Kerry and Emma - from Great Britain took a confident win in women's U23 C2 classic race. They reached the finish line 27 seconds faster than any other boat in the event. Jana Strilkova and Simona Bundova (CZE) were seconds, and Swiss duo Nora Liz Zeder and Glenys Ettlin finished the race on their home course in third place.

 

On Thursday, the team classic events are on the programme, starting at 9 AM local time.