The 2022 ECA Canoe Slalom European Championships was officially opened on Tuesday evening in the city centre of Liptovsky Mikulaš, when the defending champions from last year's championships Corinna Kuhnle, Miren Lazkano, Vit Prindiš and Denis Gargaud Chanut received special starting bibs, which will put them into the spotlight in the following days.
The task of defending the title will be demanding as the best European paddlers came to Slovakia in search of great success. Representatives of Slovakia, Germany, France, Italy, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Great Britain, Austria, Andorra, Belgium, Croatia, Ukraine, Switzerland, Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, North Macedonia, Serbia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Turkey and for the first time Kosovo will be on the start line.
In men's kayak Peter Kauzer of Slovenia will fight for this third European Champion title. 38-year-old paddler will be the only athlete on the Vah River who had an individual medal in 2007, when European Championships was first held in Liptovsky Mikulaš. He also competed in 2016 edition on this course and was just outside the podium on fourth place.
The competition will be fierce. Olympic Champion Jiri Prskavec celebrated European Champion title in Liptovsky Mikulaš in 2016, his teammate Vit Prindiš is the defending champion, local star Jakub Grigar will do everything in his power to keep the title at home. We must not forget Briton Joseph Clarke, German Hannes Aigner, Italian Giovanni De Gennaro, Austrian Felix Oschmautz, Spanish kayakers Llorente and Crespo and many others.
In women's kayak, eyes will be on the reigning Olympic and World Champion Ricarda Funk, defending champion Corinna Kuhnle, Eva Terčelj, last year's ECH silver medallist, Elena Lilik, Mallory Franklin and Kimberley Woods, Camille Prigent, local hopeful Eliška Mintalova ...
The start line in men's canoe is equally impressive. Benjamin Savšek, Alexander Slafkovsky, Matej Benuš, Marko Mirgorodsky, Sideris Tasiadis, Franz Anton, Lukaš Rohan, Vaclav Chaloupka, Luka Božič, Ryan Westley and Adam Burgess, Ander Elosegi are just some of the canoeists that promise an exciting event.
Not to forget women's canoe event which also brings great action with Mallory Franklin, Kimberley Woods, Tereza Fišerova, Elena Lilik, Miren Lazkano, Andrea Herzog, Monica Doria Villarubla, Gabriela and Martina Satkova and others fighting for the gold medal.
The first sets of medals will be awarded already in the opening day, when women's and men's kayak team events are scheduled just after the heats in previoulsy mentioned events. On Friday heats in women's and men's canoe are scheduled, as well as team races in these two events. On Saturday semifinal and final in women's and men's kayak is on the programme, and on Sunday the championships will conclude with women's and men's canoe semifinal and final as well as extreme slalom final phase.
PROGRAMME
Thursday, 26/05/2022
9:30 Heats WK1, MK1
14:10 Team events 3xWK1, 3xMK1
Friday, 27/05/2022
9:30 Heats WC1, MC1
13:10 Team events 3xWC1, 3xMC1
Saturday, 28/05/2022
9:05 Semifinal WK1
9:54 Semifinal MK1
12:06 Final WK1
12:41 Final MK1
15:40 Extreme slalom WK1 time trial run
16:10 Extreme slalom MK1 time trial run
Sunday, 29/05/2022
9:05 Semifinal WC1
9:55 Semifinal MC1
12:07 Final WC1
12:42 Final MC1
15:05 Extreme slalom WK1, MK1 1/4 final, semifinal, final
IMPORTANT LINKS
LIVE RESULTS:
https://siwidata.com/canoelive/#/live/eca/2017
LIVESTREAMING
Thursday and Friday: https://www.youtube.com/c/CanoeEurope
Saturday and Sunday*: https://olympics.com/en/sport-events/2022-eca-canoe-european-slalom-championships-liptovsky-mikuias/
Important: *Saturday's and Sunday's programme will be exclusively streamed on Olympic Channel, however, because of the TV rights restrictions certain territories will be geoblocked (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Spain, France).
All the races (including Saturday's and Sunday's programme) will be available on Canoe Europe Youtube channel in the week after the championships ends, when the TV rights restrictions will be lifted.
TV RIGHTS holders (check the TV station's programme for exact times):
Slovakia: TV JOJ
Czech Republic: Česka televize
Spain: RTVE
France: L'Equipe
Slovenia: TV Slovenija
Germany: ARD/ZDF
Austria: ORF
Event website: https://canoeliptov.sk/
25.5.2022
