The 2020 ECA Junior and U23 Canoe Slalom European Championships in Krakow has come to an end with women's canoe and men's kayak finals. The star of the weekend was definitely German Elena Apel, who won her second U23 European Champion title in canoe event, after she was the best also in Saturday's kayak final.
Elena Apel, 22-year-old paddler from Augsburg, will definitely leave Poland with great memories. She became a double U23 European Champion after she produced superb runs both in women's kayak and canoe finals. When she crossed the finish line in canoe final she raised her hands to celebrate good and fast run, but still had to wait for three more competitors to finish with their runs. Despite the fact that Apel picked up two penalty seconds in the last gate, no opponent was able to produce a better time.
The 2017 Senior European Champion Gabriela Satkova (CZE) came the closest - she was 0.06 seconds behind, and was second, while 2019 Senior World Champion Andrea Herzohg (GER) picked up bronze medal.
In men's U23 kayak final Mario Leitner from Austria won his second U23 European Champion title. The 23-year-old paddler from Carinthia was the U23 European Champion already in 2017, and he was also the 2014 Junior World Champion. For another gold medal in his collection he produced 0.68 seconds faster time than Krzysztof Majerczak from Poland, who was leading after the semifinal. Polish medallist was happy nevertheless. A bit surprisingly Gabriel de Coster from Belgium won bronze medal.
The best canoeist of the women's junior event was Tereza Kneblova from Czech Republic. Young paddler was speeding down the course and was penalty free to win the European Champion title with more than six seconds advantage. Doriane Delassus from France, who was leading after the semifinal, was second and her compatriot Camille Castryck was third.
In the last final of the championships Russian kayaker Egor Smirnov won Junior European Champion title in men's kayak. He was 0.82 seconds faster than Martin Rudorfer from Czech Republic and 1.59 seconds faster than Jakub Krejči (CZE) in third place.
The 2021 ECA Junior and U23 Canoe Slalom European Championships will be held in Solkan, Slovenia.
RESULTS - Sunday
WC1 U23
1. Elena Apel GER
2. Gabriela Satkova CZE
3. Andrea Herzog GER
MK1 U23
1. Mario Leitner AUT
2. Krzysztof Majerczak POL
3. Gabriel de Coster BEL
WC1 Junior
1. Tereza Kneblova CZE
2. Doriane Delassus FRA
3. Camille Castryck FRA
MK1 Junior
1. Egor Smirnov RUS
2. Martin Rudorfer CZE
3. Jakub Krejči CZE
4.10.2020
