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Organised by Paddle Scotland with the support of Paddle UK, the Championships bring some of Europe’s most promising young Wildwater athletes to Grandtully for four days of racing across the Classic and Sprint disciplines.

The Championships include 125 male and 72 female athletes, with 252 members of National Federation delegations and 281 accredited participants overall when officials and organisers are included.

Czechia arrives with the largest athlete delegation, with 34 competitors, followed by host nation Great Britain with 29, France with 24, Italy with 20 and Germany with 17.

The setting provides a distinctive backdrop to the Championships. The River Tay course runs between Aberfeldy and Grandtully, at the foot of the Scottish Highlands, in an area with a long connection to paddlesport and outdoor activities. For Paddle Scotland and the British Wildwater community, the event is particularly significant, with the organisers describing it as the first championship of this scale in the area for a generation.

Before racing begins, all 19 participating delegations will come together for the Opening Ceremony at Grandtully Station Park on Tuesday 11 August at 17:00.

Four days and two very different Wildwater challenges

Competition begins on Wednesday 12 August with the individual Classic races, followed by the Classic Team events on Thursday 13 August.

Attention then turns to the shorter and more explosive Sprint competition, with Sprint heats on Friday 14 August, before the individual finals and Sprint Team races bring the Championships to a conclusion on Saturday 15 August.

The two formats will provide very different tests on the River Tay.

The Classic course is 4.3 kilometres long and features eight rapid sections graded between Grade 2 and Grade 3. Athletes will enter the river at Beyond Adventure in Aberfeldy before paddling approximately two kilometres downstream to the start at Edradynate.

From there, the race takes competitors towards Grandtully before finishing immediately after one of the defining features of the course — Fourth Falls, below the bridge in the village.

The River Tay flows out of Loch Tay and its level is heavily influenced by rainfall. Summer conditions are expected to produce relatively low water levels, but all sections of the course remain navigable even in low-water conditions.

The Sprint course offers a completely different challenge.

Starting river left at the top of Grandtully Rapids, the 500 metres course takes competitors through two rapid sections separated by a flatter section, underneath the bridge and towards the same finish below Fourth Falls.

Speed, precision and the ability to find the fastest possible line will therefore become decisive when the competition switches from Classic to Sprint.

How the Sprint competition works

The individual Sprint competition consists of two heats followed by a final.

In K1, the five fastest athletes from Heat 1 qualify directly for the final. The remaining competitors have another opportunity in Heat 2, from which a further ten advance, producing a 15-athlete final.

For C1, five advance from Heat 1 and seven from Heat 2 for a 12-athlete final, while C2 follows a 5+5 qualification system to produce a 10-boat final.

The Sprint start lists are still to be confirmed, while provisional start lists are already available for Wednesday's individual Classic and Thursday's Classic Team competition.

European titles return after Dallenwil 2024

Grandtully marks the return of the Paddle Europe Junior and U23 Wildwater Championships after the previous edition was held in Dallenwil, Switzerland, in 2024.

With Junior and U23 European and World Championships following a biennial cycle, the athletes competing in Scotland arrive after another major reference point — the 2025 ICF Junior and U23 Wildwater World Championships in Solkan, Slovenia.

The Classic start list already confirms the presence of several athletes who have won European and World titles during those two championships.

One of the standout names is Marguerite De Hasque of Belgium. She won the Junior K1 Classic European title in Dallenwil in 2024 before repeating the achievement on the world stage in Solkan one year later. Now moving into the U23 category, De Hasque begins a new chapter in Grandtully and is listed in Wednesday's WK1 U23 race.

Another athlete carrying a major title into Scotland is Finn Vogler of Germany, the reigning U23 K1 Classic World Champion after his victory in Solkan in 2025. Vogler is among a highly competitive MK1 U23 field in Grandtully.

Czechia's Matous Beier arrives as the reigning U23 C1 Classic World Champion, having won in Solkan ahead of Gaetan Rousseau of France and Adam Ondrich of Czechia. Beier will again line up in MC1 U23 in Grandtully, where Rousseau is also among the entries.

Alongside him, Matej Vanek has particularly strong European credentials. The Czech paddler won both the U23 C1 Classic and Sprint European titles in Dallenwil 2024, and will return to the C1 U23 field in Scotland.

World champions move into new challenges

Several athletes who made their mark as Juniors in 2025 have now moved into U23 competition.

Slovenia's Hana Bedernjak won the Junior K1 Sprint world title in Solkan last year, finishing ahead of Cecilia Leonori and Masa Simoncic. Bedernjak is now entered in WK1 U23 for the Grandtully Classic.

Magdalena Mala of Czechia follows a similar path. She was Junior C1 Classic European Champion in Dallenwil in 2024 before becoming Junior C1 Sprint World Champion in 2025. She now steps into the U23 ranks and will race WC1 in Grandtully.

France's Elouan Nogues remains in the Junior category and arrives with the title of reigning Junior K1 Sprint World Champion, having won in Solkan ahead of Adam Tomecek and Riccardo Frigerio. Nogues is already confirmed on Wednesday's MK1 Junior Classic start list.

Meanwhile, Sandra Bergmannova adds further strength to the large Czech delegation. Still competing as a Junior, she won the C1 Classic world title in Solkan and also took silver in Junior K1 Classic. She is entered in both WK1 and WC1 in Grandtully.

Another Czech athlete to watch is Anna Retkova, who won the U23 C1 Sprint World Championship in Solkan in 2025. Retkova is entered in both WK1 and WC1 U23 in Wednesday's Classic competition.

With the Sprint start lists yet to be published, participation in the Sprint cannot yet be confirmed for all of these athletes, but their results over the previous two seasons underline the quality of the field assembled in Scotland.

Christie sisters lead the home challenge

For the host nation, one of the strongest stories will be Kerry and Emma Christie.

The British pair arrive in Grandtully with an exceptional record in women's C2 U23.

They became European Champions in both Classic and Sprint in Dallenwil 2024, winning the C2 Women U23 titles in both formats.

One year later in Solkan, they repeated the double on the world stage, becoming World Champions in both Classic and Sprint C2 U23. Their 2025 Classic victory came ahead of Germany and Switzerland, while they also claimed the Sprint world title.

They will now have the opportunity to race a major championship on home water. Both are entered individually in WK1 and WC1 in Grandtully, while the sisters will reunite in WC2 U23.

Kerry Christie also arrives after taking silver in the U23 K1 Classic at the 2025 World Championships, adding another dimension to the British challenge.

Czechia arrives with numbers — and recent success

With 34 athletes, Czechia has the largest team in Grandtully, and recent results suggest that numbers are far from the only reason the delegation will attract attention.

At the 2025 World Championships in Solkan, Czechia topped the Nations Cup standings in both disciplines, collecting 10 gold medals in Classic and 11 in Sprint. France ranked second in the Sprint Nations Cup, while Italy was second in Classic.

With Great Britain racing at home, and strong teams from France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Slovenia, Belgium and several other European nations, four days of closely contested racing are expected on the Tay.

The action begins Wednesday

The individual Classic competition officially opens the Championships on Wednesday morning, with WK1 Junior and U23 starting from 10:00. C1 Men follows before the K1 Men, C1 Women and C2 classes complete a full first day of racing.

Thursday will decide the Classic Team titles before the focus shifts to Grandtully Rapids for two days of Sprint competition.

The Classic medal ceremony will take place at Grandtully Station Park on Thursday from 18:00, while the Sprint medal presentations and Closing Ceremony are scheduled for Saturday evening, followed by a traditional closing ceilidh.

Official online results will be made available by Paddle UK, with access information to be shared once the results platform is available.

From the endurance challenge of the 4.3-kilometre Classic to the intensity of the 500 metres Sprint, Grandtully is ready for four days that will decide the next generation of European Wildwater champions.

Stay tuned to Paddle Europe channels throughout the week for results, stories and coverage from inside the 2026 Paddle Europe Junior and Under 23 Wildwater Championships.