Ceske Budejovice, which will be in the spotlight again this September as they will host the ICF Wildwater Sprint Canoeing World Championships, saw the fifth race of this year’s ECA Wildwater Sprint Canoeing European Cup. Victories went to Slovenia, Germany, and Czechia.
Competitors from Czechia, Germany, Slovenia, Switzerland, Slovakia, and North Macedonia gathered this past weekend in Ceske Budejovice to compete in the fifth race of the 2025 ECA Wildwater Sprint Canoeing European Cup. Previous races took place in Fulda, Veles, Spindleruv Mlyn, and Augsburg.
The only victory for the home team came from canoeist Anna Retkova, who won with a time of 54.56, narrowly beating Slovak Katarina Kopunova by just over half a second. Third place went to multiple European and World Championship medallist Marie Nemcova from Czechia.
In the most competitive category, men’s kayak, reigning European and World Champion Anze Urankar from Slovenia secured victory, finishing nearly a second ahead of the competition with a time of 42.81. Second and third place went to Czechs Vojtech Matejicek (43.70) and Hynek Mika (44.02).
Slovenia also celebrated a win in the women’s kayak event, where Ana Steblaj, last year’s U23 European silver medallist and Senior World Championships medallist, claimed the top spot. Czech Kristina Novosadova finished second, and Swiss paddler Mona Clavadetscher took third.
Germany secured two victories thanks to the experienced Normen Weber. First, he won the men’s individual canoe event, ahead of Czechs Vladimir Slanina in second and Matous Beier in third. Weber then teamed up with Ole Schwarz to win the C2 event. The remaining podium spots went to Czech crews: Antonin Hales and Martin Novak finished second, while Karel Rasner and Matej Vanek took third.
The next race in the 2025 ECA Wildwater Sprint Canoeing European Cup series will take place next weekend in Diekirch.
Photo: Ales Berka
11.5.2025
