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For some, little has changed: they remain among Europe’s leading paddlers. For others, the five years since that championship have completely transformed their careers.

Few illustrate that journey better than Giovanni De Gennaro.

The Italian finished second in the men’s K1 final in Ivrea in 2021. Five years later, he returns to the same course carrying a very different status: Olympic champion. Official ICF results confirm De Gennaro’s silver medal in Ivrea, 0.75 seconds behind Vit Prindis.

De Gennaro went on to win the European title in 2024 before producing the defining performance of his career at Paris 2024, where he became Olympic champion in men’s K1. Earlier this season he also added a World Championship bronze medal.

Ivrea therefore brings him back to one of the places where an important chapter of that journey was already being written.

Lazkano returns as an Ivrea champion

There is another athlete in the 2026 field who has an even more direct connection with the last European Championships held here.

Miren Lazkano won the women’s C1 European title in Ivrea in 2021, finishing ahead of Tereza Fišerová and Elena Apel. It was her first individual medal at a senior European Championships.

She is also the only one of the four individual champions from the traditional K1 and C1 events in Ivrea 2021 who is back to compete in 2026.

The four champions that year were Corinna Kuhnle in women’s K1, Vit Prindis in men’s K1, Miren Lazkano in women’s C1 and Denis Gargaud Chanut in men’s C1.

Five years later, Lazkano returns to the venue where she became European champion.

Five traditional slalom medallists return

The connection between the two championships goes beyond De Gennaro and Lazkano.

Five athletes who reached an individual podium in the four traditional K1 and C1 events at Ivrea 2021 are entered again in 2026.

Alongside Lazkano’s women’s C1 gold and De Gennaro’s men’s K1 silver, Matej Beňuš returns after taking silver in men’s C1 in 2021. Official ICF results place him second behind Denis Gargaud Chanut.

Peter Kauzer was bronze medallist in men’s K1, while Eva Terčelj took silver in women’s K1.

Their careers have followed different paths since that championship, but all five will once again race for European medals on the same course.

From promising contenders to Olympic medallists

The list of returning athletes also shows how much can change in five seasons.

Several competitors who left Ivrea without an individual medal in the traditional K1 and C1 events have since reached the Olympic podium.

Klaudia Zwolińska finished fourth in women’s K1 in Ivrea in 2021. Three years later, she became Olympic silver medallist at Paris 2024. Her fourth place in Ivrea is recorded in the official ICF results.

Kimberley Woods left Ivrea without an individual medal in K1 or C1, but at Paris 2024 she earned Olympic bronze medals in both women’s K1 and Kayak Cross.

Nicolas Gestin was fifth in men’s C1 in Ivrea in 2021 before going on to become Olympic champion in Paris.

Adam Burgess was a semifinalist here in 2021 and later won Olympic silver in men’s C1, while Angele Hug also competed in Ivrea before becoming Olympic silver medallist in women’s Kayak Cross.

Their return gives the 2026 championships an unusual sense of continuity: the same course, many of the same athletes, but very different résumés.

A new generation has arrived

At the same time, Ivrea 2026 is not simply a reunion.

A new generation has moved into the senior international spotlight since the European Championships were last held here.

Jakub Krejci now arrives as the reigning men’s K1 world champion, while Titouan Castryck has become an Olympic medallist and one of the leading names of the new generation in men’s kayak.

Ziga Lin Hočevar has also established himself at senior level and arrives in Ivrea as part of a Slovenian team with strong ambitions across the men’s canoe events.

The result is a championship where different generations meet: athletes returning with memories of 2021 and competitors creating their first major European Championship story on the Italian course.

Five years, one course

For the 75 returning athletes, Ivrea offers something unusual in elite sport: a direct point of comparison.

The course is familiar, but almost everything around it has moved on.

There are new champions, new disciplines, new rivals and new ambitions.

Some return with Olympic medals they did not have in 2021. Others arrive as world or European champions. A few are returning to a venue where they already experienced some of the most important moments of their careers.

And when racing begins, Ivrea will once again provide the stage to measure just how much can change in five years.