News

France won the men’s K1 and men’s C1 team titles, Italy took women’s C1 gold, and Slovakia opened the medal programme with victory in women’s K1. Italy also collected women’s K1 silver and men’s C1 bronze, while France added women’s C1 silver and women’s K1 bronze.

The opening day of the 2026 Paddle Europe Canoe Slalom Championships ended with France at the top of the medal table, Italy celebrating a European title on home water and Slovakia also leaving Ivrea with gold. Four team titles were decided on Thursday after a morning of individual heats that already produced major performances, extremely small margins and several surprises.

France finished Day 1 with two golds, one silver and one bronze, collecting a medal in all four team events. Italy follows with a complete set of medals — one gold, one silver and one bronze — while Slovakia’s women’s K1 team victory places the nation third in the medal table. Czechia collected two silvers and Great Britain two bronzes.

France delivers across all four team finals

France was the most successful nation of the opening day. Titouan Castryck, Anatole Delassus and Martin Cornu won a remarkable men’s K1 team final in 86.30, only 0.58 seconds ahead of Czechia and 0.68 ahead of Great Britain.

Later, Nicolas Gestin, Yohann Senechault and Jules Bernardet added the men’s C1 team title, beating Czechia by 0.65 seconds. France also earned silver in women’s C1 and bronze in women’s K1, meaning the French team ended Day 1 having reached the podium in every team competition.

Italy delivers a home title — and three medals

For Italy, the highlight was the women’s C1 team final. Marta Bertoncelli, Elena Borghi and Elena Micozzi produced a clean 102.54 to beat France by only 0.34 seconds and become European champions on home water.

Stefanie Horn, Agata Spagnol and Lucia Pistoni had earlier earned silver in women’s K1, while Raffaello Ivaldi, Flavio Micozzi and Elio Maiutto closed the day with bronze in men’s C1. Italy therefore finishes the opening day with three medals from four team finals.

The hosts also showed impressive individual speed during the morning. Xabier Ferrazzi won the men’s K1 heats and Maiutto topped men’s C1 qualification, giving Italy two individual heat victories before the team medals arrived.

Slovakia takes the first title of the Championships

The first European gold awarded in Ivrea went to Slovakia. Eliska Mintalova, Zuzana Pankova and Sona Stanovska won the women’s K1 team competition in 97.06, beating Italy by 1.28 seconds.

Mintalova had already been the fastest athlete in the individual K1 heats earlier in the day, making Thursday an especially successful opening for the Slovak paddler. Pankova also enjoyed a strong individual morning, progressing in both K1 and C1 and finishing third in the C1 heats.

The individual heats created their own headlines

Away from the medal races, the morning qualification sessions produced several major storylines that will carry directly into Friday. Mintalova led women’s K1, Ferrazzi was fastest in men’s K1, Alsu Minazova topped women’s C1 and Maiutto won men’s C1 qualification.

The biggest shock came in women’s K1. Kimberley Woods, Bib 1 and the highest-ranked athlete in the field, initially appeared to qualify in 30th place before a post-race review added another two-second penalty. She dropped to 34th and was eliminated from the K1 semifinal.

Great Britain nevertheless ended the day with two team bronzes, and Woods remains in contention in women’s C1.

All the major men’s champions remain alive

Friday’s men’s competitions bring together an exceptional collection of current major champions. In K1, the entire Paris 2024 Olympic podium remains in contention: Giovanni De Gennaro, Titouan Castryck and Pau Echaniz.

The complete 2026 World Championship podium is also through, with world champion Jakub Krejci joined by Michal Pasiut and De Gennaro. Defending European champion Jiri Prskavec also remains in the competition.

One major name missing will be Miquel Travé, who finished 31st and missed the K1 semifinal by only half a second.

Men’s C1 could produce one of Friday’s biggest battles

Travé’s situation is very different in C1. The Spaniard, reigning world and European champion, safely progressed in tenth place and remains one of the central figures in the title race.

Olympic champion Nicolas Gestin was fourth in the heats, while Paris silver medallist Adam Burgess and bronze medallist Matej Benus are also safely through. Lukas Kratochvil, the 2026 world bronze medallist, finished second in qualification, only 0.18 behind Maiutto.

With Gestin, Travé, Burgess, Benus, Kratochvil, Ziga Lin Hocevar, Luka Bozic and Benjamin Savsek all still involved, the men’s C1 semifinal is loaded with major championship experience.

Women’s titles remain wide open

The women’s competitions offer an equally intriguing picture. In K1, Mintalova starts from the fastest heat result, while Emily Apel, Stefanie Horn, Klaudia Zwolinska and Eva Tercelj were all among the leading qualifiers.

With defending champion Ricarda Funk absent and Woods eliminated, the European title picture has already changed significantly.

Women’s C1 looks even more open. Only 0.66 seconds separated the first four athletes in the heats, with Minazova ahead of Mallory Franklin, Pankova and Marjorie Delassus.

Reigning world champion Tereza Kneblova, defending European champion Monica Doria and Ivrea 2021 champion Miren Lazkano all progressed despite finishing further down the qualification ranking. A total of 13 women qualified for the semifinals in both K1 and C1, adding another layer to Friday’s programme.

Four individual European titles on Friday

Day 2 will be dedicated entirely to traditional individual slalom. The K1 semifinals, finals and medal ceremonies are scheduled from 09:05 to 13:05, followed by the C1 semifinals, finals and medals from 14:35 to 18:34.

After Thursday’s team finals, four more European champions will therefore be crowned. France begins the day at the top of the medal table, Italy has momentum and home support, and Slovakia already has a champion and several athletes near the top of the individual rankings.

Virtually all of the major Olympic, World and European champions remain in contention. Day 1 belonged to the teams. On Friday, Ivrea turns to the individual European titles.

Medal table after Day 1

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	France ????????	2	1	1	4
2	Italy ????????	1	1	1	3
3	Slovakia ????????	1	0	0	1
4	Czechia ????????	0	2	0	2
5	Great Britain ????????	0	0	2	2