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26.9.2026
The Italian stopped the clock at 43.29 seconds, beating France’s Mathurin Madore by only 0.12 seconds, while Spain’s Manuel Ochoa completed the podium in 43.90.
For De Gennaro, the victory comes only one day after he took bronze in the traditional men’s K1 final.
But while the Olympic champion celebrated another European medal — this time gold — one of the biggest Kayak Cross names in the field experienced the opposite story.
Joseph Clarke finished only 47th, missing the top 32 and therefore failing to progress to the elimination phase after an error at the second gate cost him heavily.
De Gennaro has already enjoyed a memorable Championships.
On Friday, he reached the men’s K1 final after winning the semifinal and eventually took bronze behind Jakub Krejci and Xabier Ferrazzi.
On Saturday, he went two places better.
His 43.29 was the fastest time of the entire men’s Kayak Cross Individual field and gave Italy another European title on home water.
The margin was extremely small.
Madore was only 0.12 seconds behind, while Ochoa finished 0.61 back.
But in an event where tenths decide medals, De Gennaro did enough.
Mathurin Madore came exceptionally close to the European title.
The French paddler produced 43.41, just 0.12 slower than De Gennaro.
It was one of the strongest performances of the afternoon and gave France another medal at the Championships.
Manuel Ochoa followed in third with 43.90, securing bronze for Spain and completing a podium separated by only 0.61 seconds.
The margins at the front were tiny, but De Gennaro had the decisive advantage.
Matyas Novak finished fourth for Czechia in 44.11, only 0.82 behind the winner.
Belgium’s Gabriel De Coster followed in fifth with 44.51.
For De Coster, it was a particularly notable result after his traditional K1 competition ended abruptly in the heats.
His fifth place in Kayak Cross Individual therefore represented a significant turnaround.
Ziga Lin Hocevar was sixth, with newly crowned K1 European champion Jakub Krejci seventh.
Krejci arrived on Saturday less than 24 hours after becoming European champion in men’s K1.
The Czech paddler had produced one of the performances of Friday by winning the traditional slalom title ahead of Ferrazzi and De Gennaro.
In Kayak Cross Individual, he was again competitive.
His 44.78 placed him seventh, 1.49 seconds behind De Gennaro.
It continues an extremely strong Championships for Krejci, while also demonstrating how different the demands of the two disciplines can be.
Xabier Ferrazzi, silver medallist in Friday’s K1 final, finished 19th in Kayak Cross Individual with 46.02.
He shared the same time as Switzerland’s Dimitri Marx.
Ferrazzi was therefore safely inside the top 32 and continues into the elimination stage.
Italy also qualified Andrea Nardo in 28th, giving the host nation three athletes among the qualifiers.
The biggest shock of the session belonged to Joseph Clarke.
The British paddler entered the competition as one of the most established Kayak Cross specialists in the field and one of the athletes expected to feature prominently in the elimination rounds.
Instead, his European campaign ended in the time trial.
Clarke made a costly error at the second gate, losing substantial time in the first part of his run.
He eventually crossed the finish in 51.80, leaving him 47th overall and 8.51 seconds behind De Gennaro.
With only the fastest 32 progressing, Clarke was well outside the qualification zone. It is one of the biggest surprises of the Championships.
The mistake is especially significant given Clarke’s credentials in the discipline and the fact that he had already finished fifth in Friday’s traditional K1 final.
One error at the very end of the course was enough to end his Kayak Cross challenge before the head-to-head racing began.
Clarke was not the only British athlete outside the top 32.
Sam Leaver, who finished sixth in Friday’s K1 final, was 36th with 47.90. That means both Clarke and Leaver are eliminated.
Ben Haylett was the only British athlete to progress, finishing 11th in 45.27.
It represents a significant contrast with Great Britain’s women, where Kimberley Woods had just won the Kayak Cross Individual European title.
The final qualification position went to Ireland’s Ben Brown in 32nd with 47.31.
Vojtech Heger was the first athlete outside the progression places in 33rd with 47.35.
Only 0.04 seconds separated qualification from elimination.
That made the cut extremely unforgiving.
Ivan Kozlov, Max Steinbrenner, Leaver and several others were also eliminated despite being only a few tenths outside the qualifying range.
Paris 2024 K1 bronze medallist Pau Echaniz safely advanced in 29th with 46.77.
His traditional K1 competition had ended in the semifinal on Friday, but Kayak Cross now gives him another opportunity to fight for a European medal.
Spain will also have Ochoa, who enters the elimination phase after already claiming bronze in the Individual event, and David Llorente, 16th in the time trial.
France placed three athletes inside the top 15.
Madore took silver, Ianis Triomphe finished eighth, and Joris Hello was 15th.
Czechia also showed strong depth.
Novak finished fourth, Krejci seventh and Jan Barta 27th, all comfortably progressing to the next phase.
The European podium:
Giovanni De Gennaro (ITA) — 43.29
Mathurin Madore (FRA) — 43.41 (+0.12)
Manuel Ochoa (ESP) — 43.90 (+0.61)
De Gennaro had already stood on the podium on Friday.
This time he climbed to the top step.
Madore came within 0.12 seconds of gold.
Ochoa gave Spain another European medal.
And further down the order, Joseph Clarke experienced one of the most dramatic reversals of the afternoon — a mistake at the final gate costing him enough time to miss the top 32 altogether.
From K1 bronze to Kayak Cross Individual gold in less than 24 hours, Giovanni De Gennaro has given the Italian crowd another European title to celebrate in Ivrea.
© 2021 ECA
