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Valentyna Kocirova of Czechia, Jakob Ungvari of Germany, Dominika Brzeska of Poland and Unai Oteiza of France claimed the four kayak titles after a day that began with demanding semifinals and ended with several dramatic changes of position in the medal races.

The results also continued to build some impressive individual medal collections. Kocirova and Germany’s Nova Mueller have now reached the podium three times in three days, while several athletes added individual medals to those already won in the kayak and canoe team competitions.

The four finals also changed the overall medal table, although France remains in front with nine medals, including four golds.

World champion Ondrackova eliminated as Lapeze leads Junior women’s semifinal

The morning began with one of the biggest surprises of the Championships.

France’s Margot Lapeze set the fastest time in the Junior women’s K1 semifinal, with defending European champion Karolina Abrahamova of Slovakia only 0.18 seconds behind. Italy’s Isabel Lovato was third, while Kocirova safely progressed in fifth.

However, current Junior K1 world champion Barbora Ondrackova saw her individual kayak campaign come to an unexpected end. The Czech athlete recorded a competitive raw time of 95.79 seconds but accumulated 104 seconds in penalties, dropping to 29th and missing the final.

Ondrackova had arrived at the semifinal after already collecting two team medals in Épinal — gold in the Junior women’s kayak team on Wednesday and silver in canoe on Thursday.

Kocirova delivers when it matters to take European gold

The final produced another major change at the top.

Kocirova, fifth in the semifinal, delivered a clean run of 93.96 seconds when the title was on the line and became the new Junior women’s K1 European champion.

Germany’s Nova Mueller recorded a faster paddling time of 92.47 but four seconds in penalties took her total to 96.47, leaving her with silver. Abrahamova completed the podium in third with 98.69.

Semifinal winner Lapeze had one of the most dramatic finals of the afternoon. Her raw time of 90.41 was the fastest of the entire field, but 52 penalty seconds dropped her to tenth.

Kocirova’s victory also gives her an outstanding record after three days in Épinal. She now has three medals — two golds and one silver: Kayak Team gold, Canoe Team silver and individual K1 gold.

Mueller has also collected three medals, with silver in the Kayak Team, bronze in the Canoe Team and now individual K1 silver.

Ungvari turns third in the semifinal into Junior European title

The Junior men’s semifinal was led by Slovakia’s Dominik Egyhazy, who finished ahead of France’s Riwal Le Ray and Germany’s Jakob Ungvari.

But once again the final produced a different winner.

Ungvari delivered a paddling time of 78.80 seconds and, even with a two-second penalty, his total of 80.80 was enough to secure the European crown.

Germany completed a superb one-two through Kilian Kaeding, who produced a clean 83.46-second run to take silver. France’s Theo Chetoui claimed bronze in 84.50.

Filip Duda finished fourth for Slovakia, while semifinal winner Egyhazy ended the final in fifth.

Ungvari’s victory also adds to his medal from Thursday, when he was part of the German crew that took bronze in the Junior men’s Canoe Team event.

Chetoui is another athlete now with two medals from the Championships. His individual bronze follows the bronze won with France in Wednesday’s Junior men’s Kayak Team competition.

Pistoni fastest in the semifinal, but Brzeska takes the U23 crown

Italy’s Lucia Pistoni entered the U23 women’s final as the fastest athlete from the morning semifinal.

Pistoni led qualification ahead of Poland’s Dominika Brzeska and current world champion Paulina Pirro of Germany. France also placed all three of its athletes — Nina Pesce-Roue, Ilona Martin Laemle and Emma Vuitton — into the final.

But Brzeska produced the decisive performance of the afternoon.

The Polish paddler completed a clean run in 88.87 seconds, almost three seconds clear of the rest of the field, to become U23 women’s K1 European champion.

Vuitton also remained penalty-free to claim silver for France in 91.72, while Pistoni added four seconds in penalties to her run and took bronze in 94.22.

Pirro, who had been third in the semifinal, finished sixth in the final.

Brzeska’s victory gives Poland its second gold medal of the Championships after the Junior men’s Kayak Team victory on Day 1.

For Vuitton, the silver was her second medal in Épinal after helping France win the U23 women’s Kayak Team title on Wednesday. Pirro, despite missing the individual podium, already has two team medals — silver in kayak and gold in canoe.

Debliquy misses U23 K1 final before Oteiza delivers for France

The U23 men’s semifinal also produced one of the morning’s notable eliminations.

Czechia’s Martin Rudorfer recorded the fastest semifinal time, followed by France’s Unai Oteiza and Egor Smirnov of AIN.

Current U23 C1 world champion Mewen Debliquy, who has already collected Kayak Team gold and Canoe Team silver in Épinal, finished 14th. His total of 86.92 left him only 0.38 seconds outside the top 12 and therefore out of the K1 final.

Oteiza, however, ensured France remained firmly in the fight for another title.

After finishing second in the semifinal, the French paddler produced an outstanding clean run of 78.14 seconds in the final.

Italy’s Gabriele Grimandi came exceptionally close, also remaining penalty-free and finishing only 0.65 seconds behind to claim silver.

Spain’s Faust Clotet Juanmarti secured bronze with 81.50, just two hundredths of a second ahead of Ivan Kozlov of AIN.

Semifinal winner Rudorfer finished seventh, while Titouan Estanguet, another French athlete who already had two team medals from the opening days, placed ninth after four seconds in penalties.

Oteiza remains perfect with two gold medals

Oteiza has now competed in two medal events during the Championships and won both.

He was part of the French trio alongside Mewen Debliquy and Titouan Estanguet that won the U23 men’s Kayak Team title on Day 1 and has now added the individual European crown.

Clotet Juanmarti has also doubled his medal tally. His individual bronze follows the bronze won by Spain in the U23 men’s Kayak Team competition.

Across the opening three days, a growing group of athletes has demonstrated the ability to perform across individual races and different boats.

Kocirova and Mueller currently lead that group with three medals each.

Several athletes have two, including Barbora Ondrackova, Margot Lapeze, Laurette Laly, Neele Krech, Jakob Ungvari, Theo Chetoui, Emma Vuitton, Paulina Pirro, Mewen Debliquy, Titouan Estanguet, Unai Oteiza and Faust Clotet Juanmarti.

France leads, but Germany stays close

Friday’s individual finals added medals for seven different nations and kept the overall standings extremely competitive.

France remains on top with four golds, two silvers and three bronzes, for nine medals overall.

Germany also has nine medals and sits second with three golds, four silvers and two bronzes.

Czechia follows with three golds, two silvers and one bronze, while Poland has now won two titles.

Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia complete the group of nine nations to have reached the podium through the first 12 medal events.

Attention turns to canoe on Saturday

After three days of competition, 12 of the 24 European titles have now been decided.

Saturday will follow a similar format to Friday, but attention moves completely to canoe.

The Junior and U23 women’s and men’s C1 semifinals will take place during the morning, reducing each field from 30 athletes to the 12 finalists who will return to fight for the four individual European titles in the afternoon.

With several athletes already carrying medals from the kayak and team competitions — and others still looking for their first podium of the week — Day 4 offers another opportunity for Épinal’s most versatile paddlers to add to their Championships tally.