European Canoe Association

Czech team excited to compete at home course

31.5.2018

The wait is over. Tomorrow the first Canoeing European Championships of the season 2018 finally kicks off. Prague, Czech Republic, will host the 2018 ECA Canoe Slalom European Championships, and it will be the second ever senior Canoe Slalom European Championships organised in the Czech Republic. The first one was organised in 1998 in Roudnice, approximately 50 kilometres north of Prague. Athletes are excited for the competition finally to start.

There will be over 200 athletes from 27 countries participating at European Championships in Prague. The defending champion in women’s kayak event is Austrian Corinna Kuhnle, in women’s C1 Kimberley Woods from Great Britain, in men’s K1 Mateusz Polaczyk from Poland and in men’s C1 Alexander Slafkovsky from Slovakia. 2017 C2 men European Champions Pierre Picco and Hugo Biso (FRA) have ended their career after the last season, so we will see a new crew on the top.

Among the favourites for the top positions will be Czech paddlers, who always perform strong in Prague. Reigning World Champion Ondrej Tunka will be the one to watch this weekend: “I am really looking forward to race at home in Troja. It is great that we have Europeans at home. I don’t feel big pressure, because in K1 we are three really good paddlers and anyone can win. The bottom part of the course is the hardest part for me. I should be careful there.”

European Canoe Association will stream Friday’s heats on Canoe Europe Youtube channel. Due to TV rights limitations, unfortunately, Saturday’s and Sunday’s part of the event will not be available live on our Youtube channel, but individual semi-finals and finals as well as team events will be available later, after the embargo limitations are off. The following countries have bought the rights to cover the event and championships will be available on their TV channels: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Italy, Austria, Germany (ARD and ZDF), and there will be also some canoeing on the EBU News.

Canoe Europe Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/CanoeEurope

Live results: https://siwidata.com/canoelive/#/eca/1373

For all the other information visit official event website and Facebook page and Canoe Europe social media.

Official event website: http://www.slalomtroja.cz/en/

Official event Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CanoeSlalomPrague/

Official event Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/slalomtroja/

ECA website: https://canoe-europe.org/

ECA Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CanoeEurope/

ECA Twitter: https://twitter.com/CanoeEurope

ECA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/canoe.europe/

ECA Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/CanoeEurope

PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME OF THE 2018 ECA CANOE SLALOM EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS