European Canoe Association

Liudmyla Babak claimed her fifth European Canoe Marathon Champion title

15.7.2023

Ukrainian canoeist Liudmyla Babak won her fifth canoe marathon European Champion title at the 2023 ECA Canoe Marathon European Championships in Slavonski Brod, Croatia. Manuel Garrido (ESP), Vanda Kiszli (HUN) and Mads Pedersen (DEN) also stood on the top podium position. In Saturday's junior events David Pazos (ESP) and Janka Reisz - Klaudia Kmetyo (HUN) took the gold medals.

26-year-old Liudmyla Babak (UKR) continued her winning streak at the 2023 ECA Canoe Marathon European Championships in Croatia. This is her fifth European Canoe Marathon European Champion title, in addition to two gold medals at the championships of the Old Continent in short race. Babak is unbeatable also at the World Championships, winning six gold medals.

Athlete from the Enerhodar, Ukraine, escaped the group very early in the race and paddled in her own pace gaining and gaining the advantage. She won with comfortable advantage of almost three minutes and a half.

"The race was very good. But today and during the whole competition it is very hot, however, for me it was not that hard. I am very happy, but I expected this, it is normal for me," said Liudmyla Babak after the race. On Thursday, Babak took the gold medal in women's canoe short race too.

Polish canoeist Paulina Grzelkiewicz was third last year in Silkeborg, and this year she improved her performance and claimed silver medal. Yseline Huet was third and won the first medal for France at this European Championships.

In men's canoe event, it was the reigning World Champion Manuel Garrido (ESP) who was the strongest over the 22.6 kilometres long course. 24-year-old athlete paddled together with his teammate Manuel Campos and Hungarian Marton Kover for quite some time, but then decided to add more speed and left them behind. He was able to retain the significant lead and crossed the finish line more than a minute before Marton Kover, who came in second.

The defending champion from the 2022 European Championships Manuel Campos (ESP), who celebrates birthday today, had to settle with bronze medal this time.

"I am very happy, because this is the first time I won at the European Championships. I was World Champion, but never European Champion. I am very satisfied with the regatta. I took a chance going forward, but it turned out very well for me. It is mentally demanding, but you need to think positive and fight," said Manuel Garrido, who was second last year at the European Championships in Silkeborg.

Vanda Kiszli remains the queen of canoe marathon. 29-year-old Kiszli won her fourth individual gold medal at European Championships in marathon, with additional two gold medals from short races she won on Thursday and in 2022. Kiszli also has silver and bronze medal in K1, gold medal in K2 with Sara Mihalik, and bronze medal in K2 with Alexandra Bara from the European Championships. The multiple World Championships medallist and World Games winner was second in short race of the European Championships in 2021.

"It was long and tiring race because of the heat, but I drank a lot and just tried to focus on myself. It was good. I thought I will paddle with other girls and broke away at the second to last portage. But after the first portage, the opportunity was there and I took it," said Kiszli. The canoe marathon World Championships is on the programme in late August. "It's going to be much harder than here. We will see. First, I need to qualify," concluded Hungarian paddler.

Zsofia Czellai Voros won silver medal in women's race, while bronze medal went to Eva Barrios from Spain.

The winner of the senior men's kayak race was Mads Pedersen, who managed to defend the European Champion title from the 2022. This is his third gold medal in men's K1 event of the European Championships since he also celebrated in 2019 at the European Championships in Decize.

The 27-year-old kayaker from Denmark paddled most of the race together with Ivan Alonso (ESP). The decisive moment of the 29,8 kilometres long course came in the last portage, where Pedersen outsprinted the Spanish kayaker. Alonso was not able to follow the fast running of Mads Pedersen, so it became clear the European Champion title will stay in Denmark.

"It's is different than home, there we don't have so high temperatures, also the course was very technical due to strong current. I had to stay close to the bank while going up the stream. It is also tricky, because at some places there is shallow water with rocks, so you have to be careful not to damage the boat. Unfortunately, this happened to Norwegian Eivind Vold. I was lucky to stay out of trouble and I had a really good race with Ivan Alonso. I am super happy," said Pedersen.

"Some of the things were planned, like going to the other side in the first lap, which stretched the field and made a really tough beginning of the race. It suited my way of racing and I was happy about that. Then we just had to see what will happen and adapt. It takes 30 kilometres and you need the energy to win. I had some left and I used it in the portage, which made some space. That was really nice," concluded the gold medallist.

Alonso won silver medal, while bronze medal went to Norway with Eivind Vold, who found more strength in the last metres of the race than his brother Jon Vold, while Johan Vedel from Denmark finished fifth.

In junior men's kayak event Spanish kayaker David Pazos concluded the 22,60 kilometres long course in 1:40:10.57 to win the Junior K1 European Champion title and gold medal. Joao Sousa from Portugal crossed the finish line 9.62 seconds behind Pazos, and bronze medal went to Hungary thanks to Arpad Kekesi.

In women's junior K2 event Hungarian duo Janka Reisz - Klaudia Kmetyo took the glory and the European Champions title after a hard battle. British kayakers Greta Roeser and Sienna Payne were second, while bronze medal went to Hungary too with Lili Dekanyi and Hannah Szmtyka.

On Sunday, the 2023 ECA Canoe Marathon European Championships comes to an end with four medals events: junior men's K2, senior men's C2, senior women's K2 and senior men's K2 events.

RESULTS - day 3

MK1 Junior

1. David Pazos ESP

2. Joao Sousa POR

3. Arpad Kekesi HUN

WC1 Senior

1. Liudmyla Babak UKR

2. Paulina Grzelkiewicz POL

3. Yseline Huet FRA

MC1 Senior

1. Manuel Garrido ESP

2. Marton Kover HUN