News

Czechia’s Valentyna Kocirova, France’s Leo Roye, Germany’s Christin Heydenreich and France’s Titouan Estanguet claimed the four C1 titles, while several of the athletes who had already reached the podium in kayak and in the team competitions continued to build impressive medal collections.

France was the most successful nation of the afternoon, taking five of the 12 medals available, including two golds, two silvers and one bronze. The results strengthened the host nation’s position at the top of the overall medal table after 16 events.

Kocirova turns world silver into European gold

The Junior women’s C1 final produced one of the biggest stories of the Championships, as Valentyna Kocirova completed an extraordinary individual double.

The Czech paddler had already won the Junior women’s K1 European title on Friday. Twenty-four hours later, she produced a clean C1 final run of 97.39 seconds to add a second individual European crown.

Germany’s Nova Mueller took silver with 104.09 after four seconds in penalties, while semifinal winner Margot Lapeze of France completed the podium with 105.77.

The result also reshuffled a familiar group from the World Championships in Krakow only a month earlier. At the 2026 Worlds, Barbora Ondrackova had taken the Junior C1 world title ahead of Kocirova and Lapeze. In Épinal, Kocirova moved to the top, Lapeze again took bronze and Ondrackova finished fourth.

Ondrackova remained very much in contention but her two-second penalty left her at 106.97, 1.20 seconds outside the medals.

For Kocirova, the victory takes an already outstanding Championships to another level. She now has four medals from four medal events: three golds and one silver. Alongside her individual K1 and C1 titles, she was part of Czechia’s winning Junior K1 Team and the silver-medal C1 Team.

She is currently the only athlete in Épinal to have won both individual slalom titles in the same age category.

Nova Mueller has matched Kocirova’s overall total of four medals. The German has three silvers — Junior K1 Team, individual K1 and individual C1 — together with a C1 Team bronze.

Lapeze’s bronze was also her third podium of the week, following Junior K1 Team bronze and C1 Team gold for France.

Roye leads a French one-two in Junior men’s C1

France then produced the first of two one-two finishes in the men’s events.

Leo Roye had already led the Junior men’s semifinal during the morning and carried that momentum into the final, where a clean 85.91-second run secured the European title.

His teammate Cyrian Menuat was second with 88.41, including a two-second penalty, while Czechia’s Tomas Indruch claimed bronze in 88.99.

The final brought a significant change compared with the recent World Championships.

In Krakow, Slovakia’s Dominik Egyhazy had been crowned Junior C1 world champion ahead of Dominik Rezabek and Ioannis Zachos. In Épinal, Egyhazy came extremely close to another major podium but six seconds in penalties turned the fastest raw time of the final, 83.88, into 89.88 and fourth place.

The margins were equally unforgiving for Germany’s Jakob Ungvari. Friday’s Junior K1 European champion attempted to add a second individual medal in another boat, but four seconds in penalties left him fifth at 90.03.

Ungvari nevertheless remains one of the Championships’ strongest all-round performers, with individual K1 gold and C1 Team bronze already secured.

For Indruch, the bronze was his second medal in Épinal after helping Czechia win the Junior men’s C1 Team title on Thursday. Roye and Menuat, meanwhile, had missed the team podium after France’s fast raw time was affected by penalties, making Saturday’s one-two an emphatic response.

Three athletes separated by 0.19 seconds in U23 women’s final

The U23 women’s C1 final produced the closest medal race of the afternoon.

Germany’s Christin Heydenreich became European champion with a total of 100.77 seconds, including a two-second penalty.

Italy’s Elena Micozzi finished only 0.03 seconds behind in 100.80, while Spain’s Nora Lopez completed a remarkable podium just 0.19 seconds from gold with a clean run of 100.96.

It meant less than two tenths of a second separated all three medals.

Micozzi once again demonstrated her consistency at the highest level. She had already won silver at the 2026 U23 World Championships in Krakow, behind Germany’s Lucie Krech, and repeated that silver-medal performance on the European stage in Épinal.

Heydenreich’s victory also gave her a perfect record in the C1 medal events she has contested this week. She was part of the German trio that won the U23 women’s C1 Team title on Thursday and has now added the individual crown.

Lopez also reached the podium for a second time. The Spanish paddler had already collected silver in the U23 C1 Team competition alongside Malen Gutierrez and Ainara Goikoetxea.

The final represented a major turnaround from the morning semifinal.

Adriana Morenova had led qualification ahead of Zoe Laurent and Lopez, but the Czech athlete finished sixth in the final. Laurent’s challenge ended with a 50-second penalty that dropped the French paddler to ninth.

There was also a notable elimination before the final. Germany’s Paulina Pirro, already a two-time medallist in Épinal after U23 K1 Team silver and C1 Team gold, finished 27th in the semifinal after accumulating 58 penalty seconds.

Estanguet wins 0.14-second French battle

The final individual slalom title of the day was decided by an equally dramatic French duel.

Titouan Estanguet produced a total of 83.24 seconds to win the U23 men’s C1 European title, beating teammate Mewen Debliquy by only 0.14 seconds.

Czechia’s Adam Kral completed the podium with 85.42, while Poland’s Szymon Sowizral missed bronze by only 0.12 seconds.

The order at the top had been reversed from the morning semifinal, where Debliquy led Estanguet by 1.74 seconds. When the title was decided, Estanguet found the faster total.

The French result is particularly significant when compared with the World Championships in Krakow. Estanguet had finished fourth in the U23 C1 world final, while Debliquy was tenth. World gold on that occasion went to Great Britain’s Sam Leaver. In Épinal, the two French paddlers converted those world-level performances into a European one-two.

Both athletes now have three medals each from the Championships.

Estanguet has two golds and one silver: U23 K1 Team gold, C1 Team silver and now individual C1 gold.

Debliquy has one gold and two silvers: U23 K1 Team gold, C1 Team silver and individual C1 silver.

Their medal collections underline the versatility both have shown across kayak and canoe during the week. Together with Unai Oteiza, they had opened the Championships by winning the U23 men’s K1 Team title for France.

Kocirova and Mueller lead the individual medal race

With the kayak and canoe slalom program now complete, two athletes stand alone at the top of the individual medal count.

Valentyna Kocirova and Nova Mueller have four medals each.

Kocirova has the stronger gold-medal record, with three golds and one silver:

• K1 Junior Team – gold
• C1 Junior Team – silver
• K1 Junior – gold
• C1 Junior – gold

Mueller has collected three silvers and one bronze:

• K1 Junior Team – silver
• C1 Junior Team – bronze
• K1 Junior – silver
• C1 Junior – silver

Behind them, three athletes have reached the podium three times.

Titouan Estanguet has two golds and one silver, Mewen Debliquy has one gold and two silvers, while Margot Lapeze has one gold and two bronzes.

Several other athletes have two medals, including Christin Heydenreich, Unai Oteiza, Barbora Ondrackova, Emma Vuitton, Paulina Pirro, Jakob Ungvari, Laurette Laly, Tomas Indruch, Neele Krech, Nora Lopez, Faust Clotet Juanmarti and Theo Chetoui.

The crossover between kayak and canoe has been one of the defining themes of the week, with athletes such as Kocirova, Estanguet, Debliquy and Ungvari reaching major results in both boats.

France extends its lead in the medal table

Saturday was also another major day for the host nation.

France collected two golds, two silvers and one bronze from the four C1 finals, taking its Championships total to 14 medals.

After 16 medal events, France leads with:

France – 6 gold, 4 silver, 4 bronze – 14 total

Germany remains second with 4 golds, 5 silvers and 2 bronzes, for 11 medals.

Czechia also has four titles and sits third with 4 golds, 2 silvers and 3 bronzes, for nine medals.

Behind the leading three, Poland has two gold medals, Italy has two silvers and one bronze, Great Britain has two silvers, while Spain has accumulated five medals — one silver and four bronzes. Slovakia and Slovenia have one bronze each.

Across the first 16 European titles, 48 medals have now been awarded to nine nations.

France’s strength has come from performances across virtually every part of the program, while Germany and Czechia continue to combine team depth with individual podiums.

Slalom titles decided, Kayak Cross takes over on Sunday

With Saturday’s four C1 finals complete, the traditional slalom section of the Championships is finished.

Eight team titles and eight individual K1 and C1 titles have now been decided, meaning 16 of the 24 European titles are already awarded.

The final competition day in Épinal will switch completely to Kayak Cross.

Sunday begins with the four Kayak Cross Individual competitions from 08:30, followed in the afternoon by the head-to-head Junior and U23 races, where another eight European champions will be crowned before the 2026 Championships come to an end