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Hungarian, Italian and Polish teams were among the most satisfied ones today. Their athletes won two gold medals each. The host nation enjoyed the national anthem played in honour of Adam Varga, who set the fastest time in men's K1 500 metres final (1:36.962) and won the European Champion title ahead of Fernando Pimenta (POR), who was 1.260 seconds behind, and Timon Maurer (AUT), who was 1.403 seconds behind.

 

"It was not so easy. My plan was to be very fast in the first 300 metres to have a big lead and to reach the finish line first," said Adam Varga.

 

Anna Lucz (HUN) was the second Hungarian winner of the day picking up gold medal in women's kayak 200 metres final (39.543). Polish paddler Katarzyna Kolodziejczyk was second (+0.737), and Bolette Iversen from Denmark third (+0.787).

 

Justyna Iskrzycka (POL) set the fastest time in women's K1 1000 metres final where she stopped the clock at 3:52.701. Hungarian Eszter Rendessy was second (+1.207) and Melina Andersson from Sweden finished third (+1.654).

 

The newly crowned European Champion said, "It was not very easy, but I love it, I love to be tired after the race. It was a great race."

 

Her teammate from Poland Oleksii Koliadych won the European Champion title in men's C1 200 metres final after a tough battle until the last metres. Polish canoeist set the time 38.614, which was 0.260 seconds faster than Spanish paddler Pablo Grana in second place, and Zaza Nadiradze from Georgia finished third (+0.284).

 

Italy celebrated two European Champion titles in men's K2 and C2 1000 metres events. First, Samuele Burgo and Andrea Schera (3:11.133) won the men's kayak 1000 metres finals ahead of Bence Vajda and Tamas Szabo (HUN), and French duo Cyrille Carre - Etienne Hubert, and just a race later Gabriele Casadei and Carlo Tacchnini repeated their success in men's C2 1000 metres finals. Italians won with the time 3:29.372. German duo Moritz Adam - Nico Pickert were second (+2.267), and Moldovan crew Oleg Tarnovschi - Mihai Chihaia (+2.454) finished the final in the bronze medal position.

 

Individual neutral athlete Alena Nazdrova was the fastest in women's C1 500 metres A final (2:02.749). She was over a second faster than her closest rival Giada Bragato from Hungary, and 1.607 seconds faster than Maria Corbera (ESP) in third place.

 

In the last canoe sprint final of the day, Portuguese representatives Iago Bebiano and Kevin Santos won the European Champion titles for their excellent performance in men's K2 200 metres final (31.580). Polish kayakers Jakub Stepun and Przemyslaw Korsak were second (+0.317) and Hungarians Levente Kurucz and Mark Opavszky (+0.433) third.

 

There were two finals on the programme of the paracanoeing part of the European Championships. Nataliia Lahutenko from Ukraine won another European Champion title in women's VL3 event and enriched her impressive medals collection. Ukrainian paddler set the time 59.058. Spanish Maria Jimenez was second (+0.767) and French paddler Elea Charvet finished third (+2.090). In men's KL3 200 metres final, Juan Valle from Spain won the European Champion title and defended the gold medal from last year's European Championships. In fact, the podium was equal to the season 2023. Valle won the title ahead of Mateusz Surwilo from Poland, while Ron Halevi from Israel took the bronze medal.

 

The afternoon's programme included SUP sprint finals. Gold medal in women's A final went to the hands of Natalia Novitskaia (AIN), who on Thursday took the European Champion title also in the long distance event. In sprint final, she won ahead of Kyriaki Logotheti from Greece (+1.364), and Marta Apanasewicz (+2.177) from Poland. The top two positions in men's SUP sprint A final went to the hands of canoe sprinters Andrii Kraitor, who now competes for Bulgaria, and Vadim Korobov from Lithuania. Spanish competitor Manuel Hoyuela, the long distance European Champion, was third. "I am super stoked to be back here in Szeged. My first international event was in 2011 here in canoe sprint. I am happy to have this combined event with canoe sprint. I feel this professional vibe, thank you for this decision. My plan is to collect titles," said Kraitor, holder of several medals from canoe sprint World and European Championships.

 

Saturday will start with paracanoeing finals and continue with 200, 500 and 1000 metres finals. On Saturday, we will also follow SUP technical race finals and inflatable race finals, as well as more 1000, 500 and 200 metres A finals.

 

The A finals of the 2024 ECA Canoe Sprint, Paracanoe and SUP European Championships on Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be streamed online exclusively at Eurovision Sport platform www.eurovisionsport.com, while the Wednesday’s and Thursday’s programme and non-televised events will be live on www.youtube.com/CanoeEurope. The following TV stations will broadcast the Championships between Friday and Sunday: MTVA Hungary, Ceska TV Czechia, JOJ Sport Slovakia, RTP Portugal, RTVE Spain, RAI Sport Italy, RTV Slovenia.