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25.9.2026
Thursday produced medals for five nations and left France on top of the medal table after victories in the men’s K1 and men’s C1 team events. Italy celebrated a home European title in women’s C1, while Slovakia took the opening gold of the Championships in women’s K1.
But Day 1 also established the starting point for Friday’s individual battles. Eliska Mintalova, Xabier Ferrazzi, Alsu Minazova and Elio Maiutto were the four fastest paddlers in Thursday’s heats. Today, however, those results are reset. Thirty athletes line up in each semifinal, with only the fastest 12 progressing to the medal race.
Women’s K1 opens the programme at 09:05, with Laia Sorribes first on the course and Thursday’s fastest qualifier Eliska Mintalova starting last at 10:06.
Mintalova arrives with considerable momentum after producing the fastest individual heat run and then helping Slovakia win the first European title of these Championships in the women’s K1 team final.
But the semifinal contains several athletes with major championship credentials. Klaudia Zwolinska, the Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist and 2024 European champion, starts 25th. Stefanie Horn, European champion in 2022 and part of Italy’s silver-medal team on Thursday, starts 27th. Eva Tercelj, silver medallist when the European Championships were last held in Ivrea in 2021, is also among the final athletes on the start list.
Zuzana Pankova, Eva Alina Hocevar, Mallory Franklin, Emma Vuitton and Emily Apel are also among a particularly deep group.
One major name is already absent. Kimberley Woods was eliminated in Thursday’s heats after a post-race penalty review dropped her outside the top 30.
With defending European champion Ricarda Funk not competing in Ivrea, a new name will therefore sit on top of the women’s K1 European podium in 2026.
If the women’s race looks open, the men’s K1 semifinal may be one of the strongest fields of the Championships.
Xabier Ferrazzi starts last after topping Thursday’s heats, but immediately before him are David Llorente, reigning world champion Jakub Krejci, Martin Cornu and world silver medallist Michal Pasiut.
The complete Paris 2024 Olympic podium remains in the competition. Olympic champion Giovanni De Gennaro starts 21st, silver medallist Titouan Castryck 26th and bronze medallist Pau Echaniz fourth.
De Gennaro is also the 2026 World Championship bronze medallist, meaning the full 2026 world podium is present as Krejci and Pasiut join him in the semifinal.
Defending European champion Jiri Prskavec starts 11th, while Joseph Clarke, Peter Kauzer, Sam Leaver, Mario Leitner and Martin Srabotnik add even more international experience to the field.
One of Thursday’s major casualties was Miquel Travé, who missed qualification by only 0.50 seconds. His K1 campaign is over, but his strongest opportunity comes later today in C1.
Only 12 of these 30 men will reach the final.
The afternoon programme begins at 14:35 with women’s C1, and there may be no discipline today with a broader collection of recent European and World Championship storylines.
Alsu Minazova starts last after winning Thursday’s heats, with Mallory Franklin immediately ahead of her. Zuzana Pankova, Marjorie Delassus, Elena Micozzi and Andrea Herzog are also among the final paddlers to take to the course.
Only 0.66 seconds separated Minazova, Franklin, Pankova and Delassus at the top of the heats, suggesting another exceptionally tight contest.
The semifinal also contains the reigning world champion Tereza Kneblova, who starts 13th, and defending European champion Monica Doria, who starts seventh.
Miren Lazkano, European champion here in Ivrea in 2021, is another former champion still involved.
Kimberley Woods also has another opportunity after her disappointment in K1. She starts 15th in C1, between Klara Olazabal and Lea Novak.
Andrea Herzog, Mallory Franklin, Klaudia Zwolinska, Martina Satkova and Eva Alina Hocevar add further Olympic and European pedigree to a semifinal where qualification for the top 12 alone will be a major challenge.
The final semifinal of the day begins at 15:44 and contains perhaps the clearest concentration of reigning major champions.
Miquel Travé, the defending European champion and reigning World champion, starts 21st. Olympic champion Nicolas Gestin starts 27th, while Paris 2024 silver medallist Adam Burgess starts sixth and Olympic bronze medallist Matej Benus ninth.
Gestin comes into the individual race immediately after helping France win Thursday’s men’s C1 team title.
Travé, meanwhile, will be looking for a response after his unexpected elimination from the K1 event.
The 2026 World Championship podium is also strongly represented. Travé has the world title, Burgess was second and Lukas Kratochvil took bronze. Kratochvil starts 29th today, immediately before Thursday’s fastest qualifier Elio Maiutto.
Maiutto’s performance was one of the highlights of the opening morning for the hosts, and he later added a team bronze with Italy.
Ziga Lin Hocevar, Luka Bozic and Benjamin Savsek give Slovenia three major threats, while Ryan Westley, Raffaello Ivaldi, Lukas Rohan and Yohann Senechault are among the other established international names in the field.
The format makes Friday very different from the opening day. Thirty athletes start each semifinal, but only 12 move into the final. There is therefore virtually no margin for error, even for Olympic, World and European champions.
Women’s K1 begins at 09:05, followed by the men’s semifinal from 10:14. The first individual medals of the Championships will then be decided in the kayak finals from 11:36.
The afternoon belongs to canoe. Women’s C1 starts at 14:35, followed by men’s C1 from 15:44, before the final medal sessions begin at 16:36.
Four titles will be awarded before the end of the day.
France begins Friday leading the medal table after reaching the podium in all four team competitions.
Italy has already celebrated a home European title and arrives with Ferrazzi and Maiutto having produced two of Thursday’s four fastest heat performances.
Slovakia has gold from women’s K1 teams and Mintalova carrying the fastest qualification time into the morning.
Czechia, still searching for its first gold after two team silvers, has Krejci, Prskavec, Kneblova and Kratochvil among a formidable group of individual contenders.
Great Britain, meanwhile, has two bronzes but several major individual opportunities through Franklin, Burgess, Westley and Woods in C1.
Thursday belonged to the teams. Friday in Ivrea is about individual survival first — and European titles immediately afterwards.
© 2021 ECA
