News

Three days of European Championship racing came to an end in Agios Nikolaos on Sunday, with Long Distance deciding the final continental titles of the 2026 Paddle Europe Stand Up Paddling Championships.

Italy's Cecilia Pampinella completed a remarkable clean sweep of the Open Women's programme, adding Long Distance gold to the Sprint and Technical titles she had already won, while Christian Andersen of Denmark claimed his second European crown of the championships in the Open Men's race.

Benyam Bossack and Sveva Sabato took the Junior titles, George Fragkos returned to the top of the podium in Masters 40+ Men, Reza Nasiri won Masters 50+ Men and Penny Tsaoutou completed her own three-title sweep in Masters 50+ Women.

With the final medals decided, Italy finished the championships at the top of the medal table ahead of hosts Greece.

Three races, three titles for Pampinella

Cecilia Pampinella could not have asked for a better European Championships.

Having already claimed the Open Women's Sprint and Technical titles on Friday and Saturday, the Italian completed the perfect championship by winning Sunday's Long Distance race in 1:31:19.705.

Her Italian teammate Claudia Postiglione finished second in 1:33:27.637, with 2024 European Long Distance champion Natalia Novitskaia, competing as an Individual Neutral Athlete, taking bronze in 1:33:41.914.

Pampinella therefore leaves Agios Nikolaos with all three Open Women's European titles available in 2026.

Postiglione also completed an impressive championships. After taking Technical bronze on Saturday, the reigning Junior Sprint World Champion added Long Distance silver in the Open category.

Kyriaki Logotheti of Greece finished fourth, ahead of Hungary's Csillag Kocsis.

Andersen adds Long Distance gold to Technical title

Christian Andersen also completed an outstanding championship in the Open Men's field.

The Danish athlete, who successfully defended his European Technical title on Saturday, won the Long Distance race in 1:18:52.773.

Spain's Manuel Hoyuela finished second in 1:19:51.815, while Greece's Anastasios Tsouris secured bronze in 1:19:59.724.

For Andersen, the victory added a second European title in two days and further strengthened a record that already included the 2024 European Technical title and a Long Distance bronze from Szeged.

Hoyuela, meanwhile, leaves Agios Nikolaos with medals from all three disciplines. He took bronze in Sprint, bronze in Technical and silver in Long Distance, making him one of the most consistent Open Men of the championship.

Donato Freens of the Netherlands finished fourth, followed by Greece's Phaedon Doukas.

Bossack takes Junior Men's Long Distance crown

Germany's Benyam Bossack saved his strongest result of the championships for the final day.

Bossack won the Junior Men's Long Distance race in 1:23:35.578, ahead of Italy's Gianluca Corriero in 1:24:55.737 and another Italian, Matteo Pernisco, in 1:26:18.772.

Portugal's Lourenço Viveiros, who had dominated the opening two days by winning both Sprint and Technical, finished fourth in Long Distance.

That result means Viveiros leaves Crete with two European titles, while Bossack adds European Long Distance gold to the Junior Technical World Championship bronze he won in 2025.

Corriero also enjoyed a strong final two days, following his Technical silver with another second place in Long Distance.

Sabato adds Long Distance gold to Technical title

Italy's Sveva Sabato claimed her second European title of the championships by winning the Junior Women's Long Distance race.

Sabato crossed the line ahead of Greece's Erasmia Malekaki, with Italy's Lisa Venturelli completing the podium.

The Junior Women's category produced three of the most consistent performers of the entire championship.

Venturelli leaves Agios Nikolaos with silver medals in Sprint and Technical and bronze in Long Distance, while Malekaki collected bronze in both Sprint and Technical before improving to silver on the final day.

Sabato, the 2025 Junior Technical World Champion, completed her European campaign with two gold medals from Technical and Long Distance.

Fragkos claims second gold of the weekend

George Fragkos completed an excellent home championship with victory in Masters 40+ Men Long Distance.

The Greek athlete won in 1:27:59.002, ahead of compatriot Alex Prapas in 1:31:05.461 and Portugal's Rui Ramos in 1:32:05.684.

Fragkos therefore ends the championships with three medals from three events: Sprint silver, Technical gold and Long Distance gold.

Germany's Martin Teichmann, who beat Fragkos for the Sprint title on Friday, finished fourth in the Long Distance race.

Nasiri wins Masters 50+ Men as Cani completes silver treble

Italy's Reza Nasiri took the Masters 50+ Men's Long Distance title in 1:36:51.128.

His teammate Daniele Cani finished second in 1:42:11.830, with Greece's Ioannis Koutoulakis taking bronze in 1:49:17.101.

Cani produced one of the most consistent Masters performances of the championships, finishing second in all three Masters 50+ Men's disciplines — Sprint, Technical and Long Distance.

Romania's Gabriel Culea, winner of both Sprint and Technical, did not start the Long Distance race.

Tsaoutou completes a perfect Masters championship

Penny Tsaoutou joined Pampinella as one of the championship's perfect performers.

The Greek paddler won Masters 50+ Women Long Distance in 1:44:05.767, ahead of Italy's Anna Occhiogrosso in 1:47:39.484 and Great Britain's Sara Maxey in 1:57:11.410.

Having already won Sprint and Technical, Tsaoutou completed the championships with three European titles from three starts.

It was an especially impressive continuation of her success at international level after she arrived in Agios Nikolaos as the reigning Masters 50+ Long Distance World Champion.

Italy finishes on top of the medal table

The final day changed the order at the top of the championship standings.

Italy collected three more Long Distance titles through Pampinella, Sabato and Nasiri and finished the competition with six gold, nine silver and five bronze medals.

Greece also reached six gold medals, adding Long Distance victories through Fragkos and Tsaoutou, but Italy's greater number of silver medals places the Italian team first in the final medal table.

Italy finished the championships with 20 medals, while hosts Greece collected 17.

Romania finished with three European titles, while Portugal, Germany and Denmark each won two.

Across the three days of Sprint, Technical and Long Distance competition, 21 official European titles were awarded in Agios Nikolaos.

For only the second edition of the Paddle Europe Stand Up Paddling Championships, the event highlighted a new generation of athletes alongside established international names — from Pampinella's perfect Open campaign and Tsaoutou's Masters sweep to the performances of Viveiros, Sabato and Bossack in the Junior categories.

Final European Championship medal table

With the European Championship programme now complete, Agios Nikolaos turns its attention to the ICF SUP World Cup programme, continuing an international week of Stand Up Paddling competition in Crete.