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The French wildwater canoeing team was the dominant force at the 2025 ECA Wildwater Sprint Canoeing European Championships, with athletes excelling in both the classic race and sprint event. Over the four days of competition, France collected 23 medals, including seven golds, nine silvers, and seven bronzes.

 

In the men’s canoe event, Charles Ferrion of France successfully defended his European title from 2023, when the championships was held in North Macedonia. He posted a time of 59.51, finishing 0.18 seconds ahead of compatriot Nicolas Sauteur. Third place went to Czech paddler Ondrej Rolenc, who was exactly half a second behind.

 

The French national anthem also played for the winner of the women’s kayak final. Laura Fontaine, who won gold in canoe at the previous championships in Skopje, added a European kayak title to her collection. Home favourite Cecilia Panato finished second, 0.21 seconds behind, while another French paddler, Manon Hostens – this year’s European champion in the classic race – took bronze. Defending champion Marie Nemcova (CZE) placed eleventh.

 

France achieved a clean sweep in the men’s canoe double event, with victory going to Correntin Combe and Clement Monjanel, followed by Manoel Roussin – Tanguy Roussin in second, and Nicolas Sauteur – Theo Viens in third.

 

In the men’s kayak final, Slovenia’s Nejc Znidarcic, one of the all-time greats in wildwater canoeing, returned to the top of the European podium. The 41-year-old won his fifth European sprint title on the Noce River, adding to his six individual world championships titles. He succeeded fellow Slovenian Anze Urankar, the defending champion, who lost a medal due to a mistake in the lower section of the course. Slovenia has dominated Wildwater Sprint since 2009, when Znidarcic claimed his first title. Jaka Jazbec, born in Slovenia but later competing for Italy, won in 2011. Znidarcic was also champion in 2013, 2015, and 2019, while Urankar won in 2023 and Vid Debeljak in 2017. The only non-Slovenian victory in recent years was in 2021, when Belgium’s Maxime Richard took gold. This time, France’s Augustin Reboul finished second, 0.50 seconds behind, and Belgium’s Lean Bogaerts claimed bronze.

 

In the women’s canoe event, Cecilia Panato dominated. First, she defended her C1 title from the previous championships, then went on to win gold in the C2 event with her sister Alice.

 

Panato won the C1 event by 0.84 seconds over Czech paddler Anna Retkova, with France’s Elsa Gaubert finishing third – matching her result from the last championships.

 

In the women’s canoe double, Cecilia and Alice Panato won gold with a margin of 1.46 seconds ahead of Slovakia’s Katarina Kopunova – Petra Soskova. Third place went to Elsa Gaubert and Eve Vitali-Guilbert of France.

 

As mentioned, France topped the medal table with 23 medals. Italy followed with nine, and Slovenia secured third place with four gold medals. Czechia won nine medals but only two golds, placing them fourth. Slovakia finished fifth, Belgium sixth with three bronze medals, and Great Britain came seventh.