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There were two athletes who celebrated European Champion title in the same event, after producing the exact same time in the final. Norwegian kayaker Gunnar Eide and Hunor Hidvegi from Hungary were those who both stood on the highest podium position after tough fight in the men's U23 500 meters final. Ivan Penchev from Bulgaria completed the podium with bronze medal.

 

Portuguese fans were loudly celebrating two medals of their favourite Pedro Casinha. First, he won the bronze medal in men's K2 U23 500 metres final, where he joined forces with Gustavo Goncalves. But the main event for the Portuguese fans on the stands of the venue in Montemor-o-Velho came in men's U23 K1 200 metres final. Casinha gave everything he had to win European Champion title at his home European Championships, ahead of Spain's Ivan Fernandez and Norwegian Gunnar Eide, who also won two medals on the final day of the European Championships.

 

There were some other athletes who were on fire on Sunday. Among them is Agnes Kiss (HUN) who won gold medals in women's junior 500 metres final, women's C2 junior 500 metres event and in women's junior 200 metres final. Daniela Cociu and Maria Olarasu (MDA) were crowned European Champions in WC2 U23 500 event and were second in the 200 metres final, while Olarasu also picked up medal in women's C1 500 metres race.

 

Reka Opavszky (HUN) won two gold medals on Sunday (WC1 U23 500, WC2 U23 200), as did her teammate Flora Tolgyesi (WK1 Junior 200, WK4 Junior 500). Alex Borucki (POL) was crowned European Champion in men's K1 junior 500 metres final on Sunday and also won bronze in the 200 metres final.

 

There were some other competitors who won at least two medals in single and crew boats, for example Sara del Gratta (ITA), Angelina Szegedi (HUN), Balint Kollek (HUN), Irene Bellan (ITA), Gesine Ragwitz (GER), Karina Biben (HUN), Lucia Val (ESP), Estella Damm (GER), Katharina Diederichs (GER), Federico Zanutta (ITA), Fabiano Palliola (ITA) ...

 

Spain was the best in men's canoe 200 metres finals, with Juan Moreno taking the win in U23 event and Daniel Ros in the junior category.

 

Besides Hungarian, Polish, Spanish, Norwegian and Moldovan athletes we have also seen competitors from Germany, Ukraine and Czechia reach the top podium positions.

 

Hungary dominated the European Championships in paracanoe and canoe sprint, with a total of 32 medals (21, 6, 5), 16 gold in canoe sprint were won just on Sunday. Spain concluded the championships with 20 medals (5, 8, 7), and Germany won 17 medals (5, 5, 7). Italy, Poland, Ukraine, Czechia, Moldova, Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Latvia, Austria, Great Britain, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Israel, Georgia and Romania all found their place in the medals table.

 

Full results of the championships can be found in the link below.

 

The 2024 ECA Junior and U23 Canoe Sprint European Championships will be held in Bratislava, Slovakia.