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Martina Satkova who excelled at last year’s world championships in Switzerland had big problems in Wednesday’s classic race of European Championships in Soča Valley and was surprisingly outside the medals position. In sprint she did not allow any more surprises. She secured herself a spot in Saturday’s kayak final already with her first run where she was the fastest. Satkova finished the race 0.89 seconds ahead of her teammate Barbora Dimovova, while Lise Vinet from France won the third place. 

Czech team had another athlete at the top of the results list after the heats. Ondrej Rolenc finished the technically difficult course on the Soča River 0.70 seconds faster than Italian canoeist Mattia Quintarelli. French representative Tony Debray produced the third fastest time. 

In men’s kayak event Simon Oven, current European Champion in classic race, showed great form in sprint too. It took him 58.23 seconds to complete the course on the emerald river. He was 0.62 seconds faster than French kayaker Hugues Moret and 0.66 seconds faster than another Slovenian paddler Nejc Žnidarčič. Slovenian kayaker Žnidarčič was considered the main favourite in this event before the championships. The best Slovenian Wildwater paddler battled an injury this week and cracked rib forced him to withdraw from the classic race and in sprint heats he started with a help of painkillers. 

Like in men’s kayak also in women’s canoe sprint heats winner of the classic race produced the best time. Cecilia Panato from Italy was 1,72 seconds faster than Marie Nemcova from Czech Republic and 3,37 seconds faster than Martina Satkova. 

French crews Stephane Santamaria – Quentin Dazeur and Tony Debray – Louis Lapointe were the strongest in men’s C2 heats, while Czech duo Daniel Suchanek – Ondrej Rolenc finished the heats in third position. In this event great names of canoe slalom started as well. Three times Olympic Champions (2000, 2004, 2008) Peter and Pavol Hochschorner from Slovakia were fourth in the heats, while their compatriots Peter and Ladislav Škantar (2016 Olympic Champions) secured themselves a place in the final with their second run.

On Saturday the 2019 ECA Wildwater Canoeing European Championships will conclude with individual and team sprint finals. The individual race is scheduled for 10:00 and team event for 15:00.