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The second competition day of the 2021 ECA Wildwater Canoeing European Championships in Sabero brought classic team events. Germany dominated the team events in men's kayak and canoe, winning ahead of France and Czech Republic on both occasions. French team was the fastest in women's kayak team race.

Teams and athletes that were among the best in individual classic races were also those who reached the podium positions in classic team events. German wildwater team celebrated two gold medals in men's kayak and canoe events.

 

German canoeists Normen Weber, Tim Heilinger and Ole Schwarz were the strongest in classic team race, crossing the finish line after 20 minutes and 22 seconds of paddling on the Esla River. They were 22 seconds and a half faster than French representatives Quentin Dazeur, Stephane Santamaria and Etienne Klatt. Bronze medal went to Czech Republic thanks to Matej Vanek, Karel Rasner and Ondrej Rolenc.

 

The second gold medal for Germany came in men's kayak classic team race. Marcel Paufler, Finn Hartstein and Andreas Heilinger gave all the strength they had to win the race ahead of French team. Germans crossed the finish line almost five seconds faster than Felix Bouvet, Maxence Barouh and Paul Jean. Czech kayakers Vojtech Matejicek, Adam Satke and Karel Slepica took the bronze medal.

 

Member of the German team Marcel Paufler was excited to win the team European Champion title after disappointment in individual classic race. Being an excellent canoe marathon paddler this kind of course usually suits him. After the race Marcel said, "I am pretty satisfied. Yesterday I was a bit disappointed, but the team races are always more important, because you are racing with two more guys. We are so happy that we managed to finish in the first place. There is still a big difference between marathon racing and wildwater canoeing, but when there is a chance for me, it is on a course like this, so I was a bit disappointed, but again, the most important race was today and we were preparing for this competition. In our minds, it was just 'Go, go, go' and that's it."

 

France won the gold medal in women's kayak classic team event. Lise Vinet, Phenicia Dupras and Pauline Freslon were members of the golden team that won by a tight margin of 0.830 seconds ahead of Czech Republic, with Barbora Bayerova, Barbora Dimovovoa and Klara Vankova. Bronze medal went to Germany and Sabine Fuesser, Sophia Schmidt and Rosa Deinert.

 

The last team event of the day was men's C2 team classic race. French team, composed of Santamaria - Dazeur, Ferrion - Klatt and Troubady - Moret, won the event with only half a second advantage over Czechs Rolenc - Suchanek, Rygel - Vesely and Salaj - Smakal. Bronze medal went to Germany with Schwarz - Lipperheide, Paufler - Weber and Heilinger - Heilinger.

 

The 2021 ECA Wildwater Canoeing European Championships will continue on Friday with heats in wildwater canoeing sprint events.

 

 

Results: https://www.conersyslive.com/Results/Schedule?chid=999

 

 

Livestream: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpy6ymNkyOTWAtWX8-svhag