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14.6.2026
Hungary finished this year's European Championships in Portugal with a total of 14 medals: four gold, five silver, and five bronze. On the final day of competition, Zsófia Csorba claimed the European title in the women's canoe 5000m event, while Emese Kohalmi won the women's kayak 5000m race. In the women's canoe long-distance event, the remaining medals went to Maryia Papichych (AIN-B) and Germany's Carlotta Loske. In the women's kayak race, Emese Kohalmi was joined on the podium by Sweden's Melina Andersson and Uladzislava Skrzhanava (AIN-B).
The biggest excitement in the grandstands came in the very last race of the championships, when home star Fernando Pimenta became European champion in the 5000m event after a thrilling battle. The Portuguese paddler crossed the finish line 0.986 seconds ahead of Denmark's Mads Pedersen and Slovakia's Samuel Balaz was third.
The final day also brought great success for the German team. First, Pauline Jagsch won the European title in the women's K1 500 event, and later teamed up with Paulina Paszek to triumph in the women's K2 500. Germany also topped the podium in the men's K2 500 final thanks to Jacob Schopf and Max Lemke.
In the women's K1 500 final, the other medals went to Poland's Anna Puławska, last year's world champion over the distance, and Hungary's Zsóka Csikós, the defending European champion. Puławska also earned another silver medal in the K2 500 together with Martyna Klatt, while Italy's Lucrezia Zironi and Giada Rossetti took bronze.
As mentioned, Schopf and Lemke won the men's K2 500 final, finishing 0.885 seconds ahead of Hungary's Levente Kurucz and Bence Fodor in second place. The bronze medal went to Czech paddlers Jakub Špicar and Daniel Havel.
Ukraine's Liudmyla Luzan added two more gold medals to her collection. At the start of the final day, she successfully defended her European title in the women's C1 500 event, finishing two and a half seconds ahead of Italy's Olympia Della Giustina, while Hungary's Réka Opavszky won bronze. Later, Luzan defended her title in the women's C2 500 as well, this year partnering Anastasiia Rybachok instead of Iryna Fedoriv. Hungary's Ágnes Kiss and Bianka Nagy, who finished third last year, claimed silver, while Spain's Ángeles Moreno and Viktoriia Yarchevska, last year's European champions, took bronze in Montemor-o-Velho.
Another outstanding final took place in the men's K1 200 event. Spain's Carlos Arévalo, world champion in 2022 and bronze medallist at last year's European Championships, edged Portugal's Messias Baptista by just 0.075 seconds in a tight finish. Baptista therefore repeated his result from Račice last year. Hungary's Gergely Balogh won the bronze medal.
Czech paddler Martin Fuksa secured his 15th European title on the final day of competition, this time in the men's C1 500 event. He finished 0.775 seconds ahead of Alexey Korovashkov (AIN-A), while Greece's Stefanos Dimopoulos earned his second medal of the championships.
Zakhar Petrov and Ivan Shtyl (AIN-A) won the men's C2 500 final, finishing exactly half a second ahead of Spain's Manuel Fontán and Diego Domínguez. Hungary's Dániel Fejes and Jonatán Hajdu took third place.
Another successful title defence came in the men's C1 5000 event. Moldova's Serghei Tarnovschi was in a class of his own, with Hungary's Balázs Adolf finishing nearly 13 seconds behind in second place. Poland's Wiktor Głazunów, who won silver over the distance last year, claimed bronze this time.
Canoe sprint athletes and paracanoeists have another championships remaining this season. At the end of August, Poznań will host the ICF Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Championships.
© 2021 ECA
