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The first individual gold medal of the 2025 Championships is heading to Slovakia. In the junior women’s kayak final, Slovakia’s Karolina Abrahamova came out on top, finishing just under half a second ahead of her closest rivals, despite a two-second penalty for touching the second-last gate. Silver went to Great Britain’s Arina Kontchakov, and bronze to Marketa Hojdova of Czechia.

 

In the junior men’s kayak final, Spain’s Faust Clotet Juanmarti delivered the best performance. The recent bronze medallist from the junior team event and double medallist in kayak cross (individual and kayak cross) at the World Championships in Foix claimed the European title by two tenths of a second ahead of Italy’s Daniele Romano, who secured silver. Czech paddler Michal Kopecek took third. Favourite Titouan Estanguet of France, who led both the heats and the semi-final, had to settle for fourth place after a two-second penalty.

 

Local supporters had something to cheer about as Eva Alina Hocevar claimed victory in the U23 women’s kayak final. The reigning U23 World Champion repeated her success at the European level, finishing almost two seconds ahead of her nearest rival. Italy’s Lucia Pistoni took silver, with Czech paddler Lucie Nesnidalova finishing third.

 

The final event of the day brought joy for France. Martin Cornu was crowned European Champion in the U23 men’s kayak event. He had posted the second-fastest time in Wednesday’s heats and was the best in Friday’s semi-final. His winning run in the final gave him a 2.53-second lead over Italy’s Gabriele Grimandi. Germany’s Enrico Dietz claimed the bronze medal.

 

The Championships on the Soča River continues on Saturday with the canoe semi-finals and finals.