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Italy wins women’s C1 team title at home by just 0.34 seconds

Italy wins women’s C1 team title at home by just 0.34 seconds 24.9.2026
Italy claimed a dramatic home victory in the women’s C1 team final at the 2026 Paddle Europe Canoe Slalom Championships, with Marta Bertoncelli, Elena Borghi and Elena Micozzi taking the European title by just 0.34 seconds.

The Italian trio completed a clean run in 102.54 seconds, enough to hold off France, who recorded the fastest raw time of the final but lost the title after a two-second penalty.

Great Britain completed the podium, finishing third with a clean 109.33.

Italy delivers gold on home water

Italy entered the final with confidence after a strong morning in the individual heats, and the team delivered when it mattered most.

Bertoncelli, Borghi and Micozzi produced a clean, controlled run of 102.54 with no penalties.

That proved just enough for gold.

The victory is especially significant for the host nation. Italy had finished third in this event at the 2025 European Championships, behind Czechia and France, with Borghi, Bertoncelli and Micozzi already forming that bronze-medal team.

One year later, the same trio climbed two steps higher to become European champions on home water.

France fastest, but two seconds decide the title

France came within touching distance of the gold medal.

Angele Hug, Doriane Delassus and Marjorie Delassus produced the fastest raw time of the entire final, 100.88 seconds.

However, a two-second penalty lifted their final total to 102.88, just 0.34 behind Italy.

Without that penalty, France would have won comfortably.

Instead, the French team had to settle for silver — exactly the same medal it won in 2025.

France’s consistency in this event remains impressive, with podium finishes in several recent European Championships.

Great Britain returns to the podium

Great Britain secured bronze through Kimberley Woods, Mallory Franklin and Ellis Miller.

The British trio completed a clean run in 109.33, finishing 6.79 seconds behind Italy.

It was another important medal for a country with a strong recent record in women’s C1 teams.

Great Britain had previously taken silver in 2021 and 2023 and bronze in 2024.

This latest medal adds another European podium to that sequence.

Slovakia and Germany just outside the medals

Slovakia finished fourth through Zuzana Pankova, Sona Stanovska and Emanuela Luknarova.

Their raw time of 109.65 was competitive, but four penalty seconds increased the final result to 113.65.

Germany followed in fifth.

Andrea Herzog, Lucie Krech and Nova Mueller recorded a fast 106.28 on the water, but eight penalty seconds pushed their total to 114.28.

Spain was sixth, only 0.12 seconds behind Germany.

Defending champions Czechia fall out of contention

The biggest surprise of the final came from Czechia.

Tereza Kneblova, Martina Satkova and Tereza Michalova arrived as part of a nation that had dominated the women’s C1 team event in recent years.

Czechia won the European title in 2023, 2024 and 2025, making them three-time defending champions in Ivrea.

But a 52-second penalty destroyed their medal challenge.

Their final total of 172.21 left them ninth.

It was a dramatic end to one of the strongest recent winning streaks in European women’s canoe team competition.

Slovenia and Ukraine complete the finishers

Ukraine finished seventh with 125.10, while Slovenia took eighth place on 133.81.

Switzerland did not start the final.

Italy ends Czechia’s three-year winning run

The historical context makes Italy’s victory even more significant.

Since 2020, the women’s C1 team European title had been shared only between Czechia and Slovakia.

Czechia won in 2020, 2023, 2024 and 2025, while Slovakia took the title in 2021 and 2022.

Italy now becomes the first new nation to win the event since that sequence began.

And they did it in the closest possible fashion.

Italy: 102.54.

France: 102.88.

Only 0.34 seconds separated gold from silver.

For Bertoncelli, Borghi and Micozzi, last year’s European bronze has become gold.

Italy are the 2026 European women’s C1 team champions — at home in Ivrea.

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