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Valentyna Kocirova, Cyrian Menuat, Taisiia Pospelova and Mewen Debliquy recorded the fastest times in the four C1 categories, with the top 30 athletes in each event progressing to Saturday’s semifinals.

The morning also highlighted the versatility of several competitors racing in both kayak and canoe. Kocirova produced the most impressive double across the two days, becoming the only athlete to finish inside the top three of both the K1 and C1 heats.

Kocirova leads a Czech one-two in Junior women’s C1

Czechia dominated the top of the Junior women’s canoe standings through Valentyna Kocirova and Marketa Stepankova.

Kocirova completed a clean run in 110.17 seconds, finishing 3.75 seconds ahead of Stepankova, who was also penalty-free. Slovakia’s Petra Soskova completed the top three with a total time of 114.92, including a two-second penalty.

Germany’s Neele Krech finished fourth, while France placed Margot Lapeze and Laurette Laly fifth and sixth respectively.

Kocirova’s performance continued an outstanding start to the Championships. She had already finished second in Wednesday’s Junior women’s K1 heats, behind teammate Barbora Ondrackova. She is therefore the only athlete across the four age and gender categories to place inside the top three in both boats.

Ondrackova, who led the kayak heats, also progressed comfortably in canoe. Six seconds in penalties left her seventh in C1. Neele Krech demonstrated similar consistency by finishing fourth in both kayak and canoe, while Lapeze placed sixth in K1 and fifth in C1.

Vittoria Cuignon of Italy claimed the 30th and final semifinal position, finishing 1.23 seconds ahead of Spain’s Ainhoa Segura.

Menuat wins an extremely close Junior men’s contest

France’s Cyrian Menuat produced the fastest Junior men’s C1 run, completing the course without penalties in 95.14 seconds.

Czechia’s Dominik Rezabek finished only 0.43 seconds behind despite receiving a two-second penalty. Germany’s Pascal Brandenburg took third in 97.53, followed by Italy’s Riccardo Pontarollo and Austria’s Milo Oblinger.

Only 5.22 seconds separated Menuat from Spain’s Mario del Teso in tenth, suggesting another highly competitive semifinal when the category returns on Saturday.

Germany’s Jakob Ungvari was one of the strongest dual-boat performers in the Junior men’s field. After finishing second in the K1 heats, he placed ninth in C1 and will contest both semifinals.

Slovakia’s Dominik Egyhazy also progressed in both boats, following his third place in the kayak heats with 12th position in canoe.

Oblinger experienced contrasting fortunes across the two mornings. The Austrian missed the kayak semifinal after finishing 40th, but responded with a clean C1 run to take fifth place.

Poland’s Piotr Nalepa secured the final C1 semifinal position in 111.68, only 0.81 seconds ahead of Ukraine’s Kyrylo Posatskyi.

Pospelova moves from 12th in kayak to first in canoe

Taisiia Pospelova led the U23 women’s C1 heats for AIN with a clean run of 103.05 seconds.

Spain’s Malen Gutierrez was second in 106.99, while Germany’s Paulina Pirro completed the top three with another penalty-free performance in 107.27.

Pirro has now demonstrated her competitiveness in both boats. After finishing fifth in the U23 women’s K1 heats, she moved into the top three in C1.

Pospelova made an even bigger move between the disciplines, improving from 12th in kayak to first in canoe. Switzerland’s Eyleen Vuilleumier also produced two solid qualifications, finishing 15th in K1 and eighth in C1.

Italy’s Elena Micozzi finished fourth despite four seconds in penalties, with Spain’s Nora Lopez only 0.04 seconds behind in fifth.

Joanna Blythe-Shields claimed the 30th and final semifinal place for Great Britain.

Debliquy leads another strong French performance

France completed the heats with victory in the U23 men’s C1 through Mewen Debliquy.

Debliquy recorded the fastest raw time of 87.41 seconds. A two-second penalty increased his total to 89.41, but he still finished 1.21 seconds ahead of Germany’s Anton Weber.

Great Britain’s Luc Royle took third in 91.14, only 0.04 seconds ahead of Slovenia’s Ziga Lin Hocevar.

France placed three athletes inside the top nine. In addition to Debliquy, Titouan Estanguet finished eighth and Elouan Debliquy ninth.

Mewen Debliquy and Estanguet had already reached the top ten in Wednesday’s K1 heats, finishing ninth and tenth respectively. Hocevar was another athlete to perform strongly in both boats, following sixth place in K1 with fourth in C1.

This means Debliquy, Hocevar and Estanguet will all enter the semifinal stage with top-ten results in both kayak and canoe.

Poland’s Igor Puczel took the 30th and final progression place, finishing 1.10 seconds ahead of Spain’s Markel Imaz.

Kocirova stands alone inside both top threes

Across the eight kayak and canoe heats, Kocirova was the only athlete to place among the leading three in both boats:

• Junior women: Kocirova was second in K1 and first in C1.
• Junior men: Ungvari was second in K1 and ninth in C1.
• U23 women: Pirro was fifth in K1 and third in C1.
• U23 men: Debliquy was ninth in K1 and first in C1.

Several other athletes also secured top-ten finishes in both boats, including Ondrackova, Krech, Lapeze, Hocevar and Estanguet. Their performances underline the technical versatility required to compete at the highest level in both kayak and canoe.

Thirty semifinalists, but only 12 final places

The canoe semifinals will take place on Saturday, 8 August, with 30 athletes starting in each category and only the fastest 12 advancing to the medal finals.

The Junior women begin at 09:00, followed by the Junior men at 10:04. The U23 women start at 11:08, before the U23 men conclude the semifinal programme from 12:12.

The four canoe finals will then be held during the afternoon, beginning with the Junior women at 15:00.

Before that, the Championships continue this afternoon with the four canoe team competitions and the next European titles of Épinal 2026.