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The first French victory of the day came from kayaker Manon Hostens. The 30-year-old from Roubaix left her rivals behind by nearly 12 seconds in the classic race, celebrating her first European championship title in the classic event.

 

Manon Hostens, who also competed in canoe sprint events at the Olympic Games, was overjoyed with her success:"This title means a lot to me, as it’s my very first European title in wildwater canoeing. I'm especially proud to have won it on such a beautiful and technically demanding river. It wasn’t easy for me before the start because I wasn’t quite sure what pace to go for on this kind of course – especially since it had been a while since I last competed on such a technical river. I had to find the right balance between pushing hard and staying clean in my lines. But in the final part of the race, I went all in physically, because the course allowed for it, even if my navigation wasn’t as precise and it started to get really tough physically. I’m really happy with how I executed the race, even though I took a few waves on the way down, it was a great run!"

 

Second place went to Czech paddler Kristina Novosadova, who finished 11.76 seconds behind, while Italian Mathilde Serena Rosa was third, trailing by 13.95 seconds. The defending champion from the 2023 Championships in Skopje, Belgian Laurane Sinnesael, finished fourth.

 

In the men's canoe event, the reigning champion from 2023, Theo Viens of France, defended his title. He narrowly beat his teammate Nicolas Sauteur by just 0.23 seconds. Ondrej Rolenc of the Czech Republic secured third place, 0.79 seconds behind.

 

"This title is important because the river was very challenging, and usually I prefer easier and slightly longer courses. I also thought the title would be contested between Ondrej, Nicolas, and me, as they’re technically very strong on this kind of river, and Nicolas won here last year. The course was tough due to high water levels. I felt good in the first part, but the last section was difficult, and I almost lost my paddle near the finish. At the finish line, I didn’t feel confident that my performance would be enough because I made small mistakes, but no big ones, so it was still possible. In the end, I’m really happy because this was a real challenge in tough conditions," said Theo Viens.

 

Simon Oven of Slovenia remains the king of the classic event among kayakers. The reigning world champion in this event secured his second European title on the Noce River, having already claimed gold at the 2019 European Championships in Bovec. His closest rival this time was Frenchman Augustin Reboul, who finished exactly two seconds behind. Third place went to Belgian Leo Montulet, 3.07 seconds behind.

 

After his win, Simon Oven said: "It was tough. The river keeps slowing you down because of all the waves. You have to keep pushing, but I made it! I trained well over the winter, so that helped. Every year you need to carefully analyse the classic course and adjust training accordingly. This year, it was important to focus more on power, because you constantly have to lift the boat from a standstill. I didn’t want to know my split times during the race. I had a bad feeling because the boat wasn’t running smoothly. Sometimes races just flow, but here it kept slowing down. Still, I was very satisfied at the finish."

 

In the women’s canoe event, Italian Cecilia Panato lived up to her role as the favourite, successfully defending her European title from the previous championships. She finished the race in 12:54.64, a full 18.04 seconds ahead of Czech Anna Retkova, who took second place. Third place went to France’s Laura Fontaine.

 

"I was a bit nervous, because racing at home is great, but many people come to watch and cheer for you, which made me nervous. But now that the race is over, it was good. I’m happy that I managed to win the European title at home. I had good feelings, but my lines were not that good. I mean, they were good but not perfect. But I won the European title, so I can say the race was good," said Cecilia Panato.

 

The daughter of legendary Vladi Panato, who is also the organiser of this year’s European Championships, celebrated another European title in the afternoon – this time in the women’s canoe double event, where she teamed up with her sister Alice Panato. The Italian pair finished 28 seconds ahead of their closest rivals. Elsa Gaubert and Eve Vitali-Guilbert from France took second, while Kerry Christie and Emma Christie from Great Britain claimed third place.

 

In the men’s canoe double event, all three medals went to French crews. Nicolas Sauteur and Theo Viens took gold, followed by Manoel Roussin and Tanguy Roussin in second, and Correntin Combe and Clement Monjanel in third position.

 

The Championships continues on Thursday with classic and sprint team events.