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Friday's semifinals in Montemor-o-Velho provided the final answers as to who will be competing for European titles on Saturday and Sunday. Several well-known names in European canoe sprint secured their places in the finals.

Portuguese fans will have plenty to cheer for over the weekend. In addition to the crews that qualified directly through Thursday's heats, Portugal will also be represented in several finals thanks to strong semifinal performances. These include the men's K4 500, Fernando Pimenta in the K1 500, Beatriz Fernandes in the women's C1 200, and Fernandes together with Ines Penetra in the women's C2 500.

It was also a very successful day for neighbouring Spain. Spanish athletes reaching the finals included canoeist Pablo Crespo, kayaker Francisco Cubelos, the men's K4 500 crew, the women's K2 500 crew of Garcia-Garcia, and the men's C2 500 crew of Fontan-Dominguez.

Slovakia's Bianka Sidova also enjoyed an excellent semifinal day, qualifying for the K1 500 final after winning her semifinal race. She also advanced to the women's K4 500 final together with Reka Burgar, Sofia Bergendi, and Hana Gavorova. Slovakia's Samuel Balaz secured a place in the K1 1000 final.

Several athletes impressed by winning their semifinal races on the second day of competition. Among them were Estonia's Elizaveta Fedorova and Germany's Caroline Heuser in the women's K1 1000, Sweden's Martin Nathell and Czechia's Josef Dostal in the men's K1 1000, Italy's Andrea Di Liberto in the men's K1 200, Ukraine's Ivanna Dyachenko in the women's K1 200, Bulgaria's Preslav Georgiev in the men's C1 200, Ekaterina Shliapnikova (AIN-A) in the women's C1 200, Italy's Olympia Della Giustina in the women's C1 500, Alexey Korovashkov (AIN-A) in the men's C1 500, Poland's Anna Pulawska and Slovakia's Bianka Sidova in the women's K1 500, and Hungary's Adam Varga and Poland's Alex Borucki in the men's K1 500.

In the women's K2 500 semifinals, Belgium's Peters-Broekx and Spain's Garcia-Garcia crews recorded the fastest times. Among the men's K2 500 crews, Czech paddlers Spicar-Havel and Hungary's Kurucz-Fodor were the quickest. Czech duo Rahova-Simova topped the women's C2 500 semifinal.

A number of well-known athletes and crews narrowly missed out on the finals, including Badri Kavelashvili, Jon Vold, and the Moldovan canoe duo Chihaia-Tarnovschi.

A total of eleven sets of medals will be awarded in the sprint programme on Saturday. The competition can be followed live on the Planet Canoe YouTube channel.