We use cookies to improve our site and your experience. By continuing to browse our site you accept our cookie policy
We use cookies to improve our site and your experience. By continuing to browse our site you accept our cookie policy
25.9.2026
The Olympic champion produced a clean 86.26-second run to finish 0.48 seconds ahead of reigning World champion Jakub Krejci, with Slovenia’s Lan Tominc third on 86.98.
Behind them, however, came a semifinal full of major casualties.
Paris 2024 silver medallist Titouan Castryck and bronze medallist Pau Echaniz were both eliminated, while 2026 World silver medallist Michal Pasiut also missed the final.
For the first time this week, the men’s K1 field has been dramatically reduced to a final that looks very different from the one many might have expected before racing began.
De Gennaro arrived in Ivrea carrying perhaps more attention than anyone else in the men’s kayak field.
The Paris 2024 Olympic champion, 2026 World bronze medallist and former European champion responded with the fastest total time of the semifinal.
His clean 86.26 was enough to move ahead of Krejci by just 0.48 seconds.
It was also another strong signal from Italy after the hosts had already enjoyed a successful opening day.
De Gennaro now heads into the final with the fastest semifinal result, and he will not be alone.
Italy emerged as one of the strongest nations of the semifinal.
Xabier Ferrazzi, who had been fastest in Thursday’s heats, produced the fastest raw time of the semifinal — 85.13 seconds.
A two-second penalty, however, lifted his total to 87.13 and dropped him to fourth place.
That raw time was 1.13 seconds faster than De Gennaro’s winning total and underlines just how dangerous Ferrazzi remains ahead of the final.
Tommaso Panico completed an excellent Italian morning by qualifying 11th with a clean 89.18.
Italy will therefore have three athletes among the 12 finalists: De Gennaro, Ferrazzi and Panico.
Czechia also qualified three athletes.
Reigning World champion Jakub Krejci was second with a clean 86.74, only 0.48 behind De Gennaro.
Defending European champion Jiri Prskavec finished fifth in 87.50, while Jan Barta secured the final qualifying position in 12th on 89.45.
The Czech team came extremely close to placing four athletes in the final.
Matyas Novak recorded a raw time of 88.70 but picked up a two-second penalty, leaving him 13th with 90.70 — the first athlete outside the cut.
Czechia therefore joins Italy with three finalists and remains very strongly represented in the medal race.
Lan Tominc provided one of the biggest positive surprises of the semifinal.
The Slovenian delivered a clean 86.98 to finish third, just 0.72 behind De Gennaro.
His result came on a morning when two of Slovenia’s biggest names failed to advance.
Martin Srabotnik finished 16th after a two-second penalty, while Peter Kauzer was 20th with a clean 92.31.
Tominc will therefore carry Slovenia’s hopes alone in the final.
The biggest shock concerned the Paris 2024 Olympic podium.
Before the semifinal, all three Olympic medallists were still in contention.
After it, only De Gennaro remains.
Pau Echaniz finished 23rd with 93.35, while Titouan Castryck, the Olympic silver medallist and current world number one on the start list, was 25th after a two-second penalty left him on 93.78.
That means Friday’s final will not feature a repeat of the Paris podium battle.
Instead, De Gennaro will face a different collection of challengers.
Castryck’s elimination was part of an even bigger setback for France.
Martin Cornu finished 24th, Castryck 25th and Anatole Delassus 27th after receiving a 50-second penalty.
Just one day after France won the men’s K1 team European title, none of its three athletes will contest the individual final.
It is one of the sharpest contrasts between Thursday’s team success and Friday’s individual racing.
Another major casualty was Michal Pasiut.
The Polish paddler, silver medallist at the 2026 World Championships, recorded a raw 89.97 but a two-second penalty left him 18th on 91.97.
That means only two members of the 2026 World Championship podium will appear in the final: World champion Krejci and bronze medallist De Gennaro.
Poland will still have representation through Mateusz Polaczyk, who qualified ninth with a clean 88.94.
Great Britain enjoyed a strong semifinal.
Sam Leaver qualified seventh with 87.78, only 0.02 behind Mario Leitner, while Joseph Clarke followed in eighth on 88.41.
Both advance cleanly into the medal race.
Clarke, already one of the major names scheduled for Saturday’s kayak cross competitions, now also has an opportunity to challenge for a traditional slalom medal.
Austria’s Mario Leitner was sixth and completes another highly experienced group near the top of the results.
The 12 finalists come from seven nations. Italy and Czechia each qualified three athletes, while Great Britain has two. Slovenia, Austria, Poland and AIN each have one representative.
The finalists are:
Giovanni De Gennaro (ITA), Jakub Krejci (CZE), Lan Tominc (SLO), Xabier Ferrazzi (ITA), Jiri Prskavec (CZE), Mario Leitner (AUT), Sam Leaver (GBR), Joseph Clarke (GBR), Mateusz Polaczyk (POL), Ivan Kozlov (AIN), Tommaso Panico (ITA) and Jan Barta (CZE).
What looked before the start like a confrontation between the complete Olympic and World Championship podiums has changed significantly in just one hour.
Castryck is out.
Echaniz is out.
Pasiut is out.
France has no finalist.
But De Gennaro remains, Krejci remains and defending European champion Prskavec remains.
Ferrazzi has already shown that he possesses the raw speed to beat everyone, while Tominc arrives after one of the best runs of the morning.
Italy and Czechia together account for half of the final field.
And the margins at the top could hardly be smaller: just 0.72 seconds separated De Gennaro, Krejci and Tominc in the semifinal.
The men’s K1 final is no longer the race that was expected at the beginning of the day.
But with the Olympic champion, World champion and defending European champion all still standing, the battle for gold in Ivrea remains loaded with quality.
© 2021 ECA
