The 2025 ECA Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe European Championships has officially begun with the opening ceremony in Racice (CZE). From Thursday to Sunday, Europe’s top paddlers will compete for the European Champion titles, but they also have another important task ahead. During the championships, participating athletes will vote for their representative on the newly established ECA Athletes' Committee.
The ECA Athletes' Committee is a new body within the European Canoe Association, designed to include representatives from Olympic disciplines (canoe slalom and canoe sprint), the Paralympic paracanoe discipline, and non-Olympic disciplines. At the 2025 ECA Canoe Slalom European Championships in Paris, slalom athletes already elected their representatives: Monica Doria from Andorra and legendary Slovak paddler Michal Martikan.
Upon her election, Monica Doria, this year’s European canoe champion, said: "For me to be representing the athletes in the ECA it's a new challenge, both personal and professional as an athlete. I feel like we, the athletes, are the ones who can help the most to make this sport evolve and working closely with our institutions is the way to go. So, I felt I could put my time and energy into this and try to get the needs of the athletes on the table. Mainly the goal is to make the information pass from the athletes to the ECA, as any needs or concerns that they might have, and the other way around. And apart from this, it would be a good opportunity to propose ideas that could help evolve our sport."
A seat on the ECA Athletes' Committee will also be a new challenge for one of the greatest slalom paddlers of all time, Michal Martikan, who commented: "For a long time, I've seen many shortcomings in this sport, and my views are quite different from the others. But I told myself that I'm old enough now to hear in person why it supposedly can't be done properly. That's why I decided to get involved."
This week, canoe sprint athletes in Račice will elect their own two representatives — one male and one female. A tight race is expected, as the candidate list includes nine top-level athletes.
Canoe Sprint Candidates for the ECA Athletes' Committee:
- Josef Dostal (CZE)
- Frederikke Hauge Matthiesen (DEN)
- Inigo Pena Arriola (ESP)
- Joona Mantynen (FIN)
- Virag Balla (HUN)
- Fernando Pimenta (POR)
- Jost Zakrajsek (SLO)
- Milica Novakovic (SRB)
- Anđelo Dzombeta (SRB)
Paracanoe athletes also have place for two representatives in the ECA Athletes' Committee, one male and one female.
Paracanoe Candidate for the ECA Athletes' Committee:
18.6.2025
