News

A European Best Time in the opening final

The first Final A of the championships produced the first European Best Time of Szeged 2026.

Ivan Nekrasov of AIN-A won the K1 Junior Men 1000 meters in 3:32.230, improving the previous European Best Time of 3:32.432 set by Denmark’s Rasmus Knudsen in 2016.

Heorhi Varazhun of AIN-B finished second, while Türkiye’s Rahmi Karahan crossed the line in third place in 3:36.347.

Karahan’s result represented a historic first for Türkiye. It was the country’s first medal in the Junior Men’s K1 1000 meters and its first individual medal at the European Junior and Under 23 Championships.

Türkiye had previously won medals in the Men’s K2 500 and K2 1000 meters and, in 2025, in the Women’s K2 500 meters, but had never before reached the podium in an individual event.

In the C1 Junior Men 1000 meters, Aleksandr Mineev of AIN-A secured the title in 4:01.283. Czechia’s Danylo Martynenko took silver, only 0.671 seconds behind, while Germany’s Makar Pron collected bronze.

Rudolf completes a historic title hat-trick

Adam Rudolf successfully defended his C1 Under 23 Men 1000meters title, winning in 3:53.285.

The Czech athlete became only the second paddler to claim three consecutive European Under 23 titles in this event, matching the achievement of Martin Fuksa.

Fuksa won four consecutive titles between 2012 and 2015, meaning Rudolf is now only one victory away from equalling the record. At 22, he will have the opportunity to achieve that in 2027.

Maksim Murauski of AIN-B finished second, while Moldova’s Mihai Chihaia secured the bronze medal.

The K1 Under 23 Men title went to Dzianis Yermolenka of AIN-B in 3:32.043. Dmitrii Avdeev of AIN-A was second, while Hungary’s Zoltan Mircse completed the podium.

Mircse had won the Junior Men’s K1 1000meters European title in 2025 and marked his first season in the Under 23 category with another European medal.

Janotová and Bauer win the women’s titles

Czechia collected its second gold medal of the session through Barbora Janotová in the K1 Junior Women 1000 meters.

Janotová won in 3:57.393, finishing almost two seconds ahead of Yuliya Khodzka of AIN-B. Italy’s Anastasia Insabella took the bronze medal.

Denmark’s Frida Søborg, who entered the race as the defending European champion, finished fifth.

Hungary celebrated its first title of the championships in the K1 Under 23 Women 1000 meters. Zita Bauer produced a winning time of 4:01.581, ahead of Italy’s Giorgia Lacalamita and Estonia’s Elizaveta Fedorova.

Fedorova had won silver in the same event in 2025 and returned to the podium with bronze in Szeged.

Hungarian crews move the host nation to the top

Hungary added two more gold medals through its men’s K2 crews.

Zalan Varga and Oliver Kardos won the K2 Junior Men 1000 meters in 3:21.902. Germany’s Richardt Arnold and Tymofii Zherebylo took silver, while Tom Hatton and Samuel Dickson secured bronze for Great Britain.

The British result ended a seven-year absence from the men’s podiums at the European Junior and Under 23 Championships. The previous British men’s medals had come in Račice in 2019, when Philip Miles won K1 1000meters bronze and Daniel Atkins became K1 200meters champion.

In the K2 Under 23 Men 1000 meters, Daniel Zemen and Adam Kaed gave Hungary another title with a time of 3:11.549. Ihar Yakshyn and Ilia Filimonau of AIN-B finished second, just 0.040 seconds ahead of Germany’s Tim Methner and Jan Graf.

Germany also claimed gold in the C2 Junior Men 1000 meters. Emil Weber and Laurin Wendt won in 3:45.332, with Poland’s Oskar Dekowski and Mateusz Augustyniak taking silver. Anton Abtseshka and Mikita Charamnykh of AIN-B completed the podium.

The final title of the session went to Hleb Dziomin and Kanstantsin Rohau of AIN-B in the C2 Under 23 Men 1000 meters. Czechia’s Vit Prikopa and Robin Hirsch finished second, while Maksim Karataev and Matvei Arsenov of AIN-A took third.

Hungary tops the first medal table

With the AIN-A and AIN-B entries excluded from the National Federation ranking, Hungary leads the medal table with three gold medals and one bronze.

Czechia is second with two gold and two silver medals, while Germany occupies third place with one gold, one silver and two bronze medals. All three countries have collected four medals, but they are separated by the number of golds.

Italy follows with one silver and one bronze. Poland has one silver, while Estonia, Great Britain, Moldova and Türkiye each have one bronze.

In the Junior ranking, Germany leads with one gold, one silver and one bronze. Czechia has one gold and one silver, while Hungary has one gold.

Hungary leads the Under 23 medal table with two gold medals and one bronze, ahead of Czechia with one gold and one silver.

Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Hungary	3	0	1	4
Czechia	2	2	0	4
Germany	1	1	2	4
Italy	0	1	1	2
Poland	0	1	0	1
Estonia	0	0	1	1
Great Britain	0	0	1	1
Moldova	0	0	1	1
Türkiye	0	0	1	1

Sunday’s finalists emerge in the afternoon

After the medal ceremonies, attention returned to qualification for Sunday’s 500 and 200meters finals.

Germany won both of the first women’s crew boat semi-finals. Lia Marder and Alma Kliemke led the C2 Junior Women 500 meters, while the German K4 Junior Women crew finished ahead of Serbia and Slovakia.

Serbia won the K4 Under 23 Women semi-final, progressing to the final alongside Italy and Great Britain.

In the 200meters Program, Czechia’s Ema Wertheimerova won the C1 Junior Women semi-final, with Lithuania’s Vanesa Melinauskaite and Portugal’s Lara Lopes also reaching the final. France’s Chloe Nicot led the C1 Under 23 Women semi-final.

The three K1 Junior Men semi-finals were won by Czechia’s David Mach, Aliaksei Dashchynski of AIN-B and Türkiye’s Rahmi Karahan. Alex Gavlider, Antonio Arizzi, Wilhelm Laurisch and other leading contenders also secured Final A places.

Karahan will therefore enter Sunday with opportunities in both the K1 Junior Men 500 and 200 meters, having already made history with bronze over 1000 meters.

In the K1 Under 23 Men 200 meters, 2025 champion Strahinja Dragosavljevic progressed behind Aleksandr Rozov in the opening semi-final. Artsiom Andreyenka won the second race.

Poland’s Dominika Zimnoch won the K1 Under 23 Women 200meters semi-final, while Spain’s Raul Fernandez led the C1 Under 23 Men race.

Rudolf continues his pursuit of another double

Adam Rudolf returned to the course in the late afternoon and won the first C1 Under 23 Men 500meters semi-final in 1:54.263, just 0.080 seconds ahead of Moldova’s Mihai Chihaia.

The Czech athlete will now attempt to defend a second title on Sunday, having also won the C1 Under 23 Men 500 meters in 2025.

Portugal’s Duarte Cunha won the opening C1 Junior Men 500meters semi-final, while Aleksandr Mineev of AIN-A led the second race.

In the crew boats, Moldova, Hungary and AIN-B won the three K2 Junior Men 500meters semi-finals. Türkiye and Poland led the two K2 Under 23 Men races, while Italy and Serbia won the Junior Women’s K2 semi-finals. Spain topped the K2 Under 23 Women race.

Thirty-two European titles remain

Sunday will bring the championships to a close with 32 European titles to be decided across the 500 and 200meters distances and the final K4 and mixed C4 races.

The first Final A begins at 09:20 with the K1 Under 23 Men 500 meters. Hungary’s Balint Kollek will defend the title he won in 2025 against a field that includes Valdemar Jorgensen, Taha Usta, Lucas Kluge and Dmitrii Avdeev.

Five minutes later, Rahmi Karahan will line up in the K1 Junior Men 500meters final alongside Saturday’s 1000meters champion Ivan Nekrasov, Tom Hatton, Sean Butterly, Leonardo Candela and Roman Orlov.

Ukraine’s Yelyzaveta Vozniuk will defend two titles. She will contest the C1 Junior Women 500meters final at 09:30 before returning for the 200meters final at 14:45.

Adam Rudolf will aim to complete another 1000 and 500meters double in the C1 Under 23 Men 500 meters at 13:35.

The afternoon’s 200meters Program will feature three more defending champions. Ukraine’s Ivanna Dyachenko returns in the K1 Under 23 Women, Serbia’s Strahinja Dragosavljevic will defend the K1 Under 23 Men crown and Poland’s Juliusz Kitewski will compete in the C1 Under 23 Men final.

The concluding block begins at 16:50 and includes the four K4 finals and the Junior and Under 23 mixed C4 races.

After a historic first finals day, Szeged is now ready for a decisive Sunday in which the remaining 32 European champions will be crowned.