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Saturday alone delivered 21 European titles, with 12 individual Sprint finals during the morning followed by nine Team Sprint events in the afternoon.

Czechia produced an exceptional final day, collecting nine gold medals to move ahead of France and finish at the top of the final medal table with 13 gold, 11 silver and 10 bronze medals.

France finished second with 12 gold medals but recorded the highest overall number of podium finishes of the Championships, collecting 36 medals compared with Czechia’s 34.

Czechia dominates a dramatic morning of Sprint finals

The final day opened with victory for Slovenia in Women’s K1 Junior, where Masa Simoncic took the European title in 1:18.13, half a second ahead of Belgium’s Jitte Onsia. Sandra Bergmannova of Czechia completed the podium.

Germany then celebrated in Women’s K1 U23 as Luisa Puttkammer claimed gold in 1:14.93, ahead of Maya Bagnato of Italy and Anna Retkova of Czechia.

Czechia quickly began to build momentum in the canoe events.

Jachym Hanzel won Men’s C1 Junior in 1:21.18, just 0.29 seconds ahead of France’s Emile Pichard, while Josef Valenta added another medal for Czechia in third.

In Men’s C1 U23, Matej Vanek completed a strong Championship by winning the Sprint title in 1:17.13. Slovakia’s Jaromir Ivanecky took silver and Classic champion Gaetan Rousseau of France bronze.

France strikes back in K1

France answered with victories in both men’s K1 categories.

Reigning Junior Sprint World Champion Elouan Nogues confirmed his status on the Grandtully Rapids with an impressive 1:07.45 in Men’s K1 Junior.

France actually took the top two positions, with Loig Le Guennec finishing second, while Czechia’s Adam Tomecek collected bronze.

The Men’s K1 U23 final was even closer.

Dimitri Tostain won in 1:06.18, beating Belgium’s Lean Bogaerts by only 0.21 seconds, with Germany’s Nicolas Niederle-Gomez just 0.50 seconds from gold in third.

For Tostain, it was the beginning of an extraordinary final day.

Capska produces a four-gold Saturday

One of the outstanding individual performances of the entire Championships came from Czechia’s Valerie Capska.

Capska first won the Women’s C1 Junior Sprint title in 1:29.44, finishing 3.68 seconds ahead of France’s Leonie Didier, with Camille Fourotte also of France taking bronze.

She then joined Tereza Marouskova to win the Women’s C2 Junior Sprint final.

But her day was far from finished.

Capska was later part of Czechia’s winning Women’s C1 U23 Team Sprint combination and then added a fourth gold in the Women’s C2 U23 Team event.

Four European titles in a single day completed an exceptional Saturday for the Czech athlete.

Hanzel and Tostain collect multiple Sprint titles

Jachym Hanzel also had a remarkable final day.

After winning Men’s C1 Junior, Hanzel joined Pavel Safarik to win Men’s C2 Junior in 1:16.09.

The Czech pair finished 1.29 seconds ahead of two French boats that remarkably recorded exactly the same time of 1:17.38, producing a tie for silver between Elouan Bezilles / Anael Canevet and Gabriel Dominique Daniel Auvolat / Emile Pichard.

Hanzel later added another gold in the Men’s C1 Junior Team Sprint and silver as part of Czechia’s Men’s C2 U23 team.

Dimitri Tostain was equally impressive in the U23 events.

After his K1 victory, he reunited with Jerome Payen to win the Men’s C2 U23 Sprint title in 1:15.76. The French pair finished ahead of Switzerland’s Samuel Peter / Jose Voegtlin and Czechia’s Matous Beier / Karel Rasner.

Tostain then completed his Saturday with another gold as part of France’s winning Men’s C2 U23 Team Sprint combination.

Fontaine wins C1 while Christie sisters deliver again at home

France added another individual title through Laura Fontaine, who won Women’s C1 U23 in 1:26.20.

Anna Retkova took silver for Czechia, while Eve Vitali-Guilbert added another medal to her impressive week with bronze.

For the host nation, the morning ended with another memorable victory.

Kerry Christie and Emma Christie won the Women’s C2 U23 Sprint title in 1:26.68, finishing 1.77 seconds ahead of Czechia’s Pavla Jilkova / Magdalena Mala.

The result completed a Classic and Sprint double for the Scottish sisters on home water. After becoming European champions in both disciplines in Dallenwil in 2024 and World Champions in both in Solkan in 2025, they repeated the double in Grandtully in 2026.

Team Sprint brings the Championships to a dramatic finish

The afternoon Team Sprint races produced several extremely close finishes.

Italy won Women’s K1 Junior, while France claimed Men’s K1 Junior by just 0.04 seconds over Italy — one of the smallest winning margins of the Championships.

Germany enjoyed an excellent U23 K1 program, winning both the Women’s and Men’s Team Sprint titles.

Czechia dominated the canoe team races, taking gold in Men’s C1 Junior, Men’s C1 U23, Women’s C1 U23 and Women’s C2 U23.

The Women’s C1 U23 Team race was particularly dramatic, with Czechia beating France by only 0.13 seconds.

France won Men’s C2 U23, completing another outstanding C2 performance from Dimitri Tostain, Jerome Payen and their teammates.

The final race of the Championships belonged to Czechia, which won Women’s C2 U23 ahead of France and Great Britain.

Tostain finishes with five European titles

Across the full four days of racing, several athletes accumulated remarkable medal collections.

France’s Dimitri Tostain finished Grandtully with five medals — all of them gold.

He won the Classic C2 U23 title with Jerome Payen, was part of France’s winning Classic C2 Team, and then added three more titles on Saturday in K1 Sprint, C2 Sprint and C2 Team Sprint.

His five gold medals represent one of the outstanding individual achievements of the Championships.

Several athletes also reached seven medals overall.

Czechia’s Jachym Hanzel finished with four gold, two silver and one bronze, combining success across C1 and C2 and across both Classic and Sprint.

Anna Retkova collected three gold, three silver and one bronze across K1, C1 and Team events.

France’s Gabriel Dominique Daniel Auvolat and Emile Pichard each finished with three gold, three silver and one bronze, while Eve Vitali-Guilbert accumulated one gold, three silver and three bronze medals.

Valerie Capska’s four-gold Saturday took her overall Championship total to four gold and two silver medals.

Czechia takes the final medal table

Czechia’s exceptional Sprint performance turned the battle at the top of the standings around on the final day.

France had led after both Classic competition days, but Czechia’s nine Saturday victories lifted the team to 13 European titles, one more than France.

Final Medal Table

France therefore leaves Scotland with the highest number of medals overall — 36 — while Czechia takes first place in the official medal ranking thanks to its 13 gold medals.

Ten nations reached the podium during the Championships.

Four days, two very different challenges

Grandtully 2026 brought together the two very different sides of Wildwater racing.

The opening two days tested endurance and river reading on the 4.3-kilometre Classic course, before attention shifted to the intensity of the 500 meters Sprint through Grandtully Rapids.

Across four days, 41 European titles were decided in individual and team competition, with athletes from 19 National Federations taking part in a Championship that combined established international names with some of Europe’s most promising young paddlers.

The event also represented an important moment for the Scottish paddling community, with Paddle Scotland leading the organization with the support of Paddle UK and a large group of volunteers.

From the longer challenge of the River Tay to races separated by hundredths of a second on Grandtully Rapids, the Championships delivered four days of contrasting racing and memorable performances.

The final medals have now been awarded, but Grandtully 2026 leaves behind much more than results — bringing Europe’s Wildwater community together in the heart of Scotland and adding another chapter to the history of Junior and U23 racing.