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15.7.2026
From 23 to 26 July 2026, Szeged, Hungary, will host the 2026 Paddle Europe Juniors and Under 23 Sprint Championships, bringing Europe’s best young canoe sprint athletes back to one of the sport’s most iconic venues.
Szeged has a long and important history with European canoeing. The venue hosted the Senior European Championships in 2002, followed by the Junior and Under 23 European Championships in 2008. More recently, in 2024, Szeged once again welcomed the Senior European Championships, reaffirming its status as one of the world’s leading canoe sprint venues.
Now, in 2026, the European Junior and Under 23 Sprint Championships return to Szeged for the second time, bringing the next generation of European talent to a city widely recognised as one of the capitals of world canoeing.
The championships will also take place at a special moment for Hungarian canoeing. The host nation has continued to show its strength at European level, with impressive performances in both Canoe Sprint and Canoe Marathon during the month of June. Hungary arrives in Szeged not only as the organiser, but also as one of the strongest references in European paddle sport.
That strength was also highlighted recently in Paddle Europe’s interview with Szakács Bálint, Secretary General of the Hungarian Canoe Federation, who spoke about the long-term structure behind Hungary’s canoeing success, including its club system, coaching culture and youth development model.
According to the official numbers published today together with the provisional start list and timetable, the 2026 Paddle Europe Junior and Under 23 Sprint Championships will bring together 38 delegations and 759 athletes.
The host nation, Hungary, will have one of the largest teams in the competition, with 55 athletes entered across the Junior and Under 23 categories. The Hungarian team includes 14 Junior Women, 16 Junior Men, 10 Under 23 Women and 15 Under 23 Men.
Among the National Federations, Spain has the largest team, with 60 athletes, followed by Hungary with 55 and Poland with 49. AIN-A is also listed separately in the competition documents with 50 athletes.
These numbers confirm the scale of the event and the depth of European canoe sprint at youth level, with many of the continent’s strongest canoeing nations arriving with large and ambitious teams.
The championship programme includes individual boats, crew boats and mixed events, with K1, C1, K2, C2, K4 and C4 races across the four days of competition.
The event will open on Thursday, 23 July, with heats across the 1000m and 500m events, before moving through further heats and semifinals. The first major block of finals will take place on Saturday morning, with the 1000m medal races, including K1, C1, K2 and C2 events.
Sunday will bring a full final day in Szeged, with 500m and 200m medal races, followed by the K4 and C4 events that will close the championships. In total, the programme includes 42 medal events.
The 2026 start list also includes several athletes who won European titles last year at the 2025 ECA Junior and Under 23 Canoe Sprint European Championships in Bascov-Pitești, Romania.
Among the returning champions, Adam Rudolf of Czechia will be one of the key names to watch. After winning European titles in the C1 Under 23 Men events in 2025, he is again listed among the leading contenders in Szeged.
Ukraine will also arrive with important returning champions. Yelyzaveta Vozniuk, one of the standout junior canoe athletes of 2025, is entered again in the C1 Junior Women events, while Ivanna Dyachenko, the 2025 K1 Under 23 Women 200m champion, is also part of the Ukrainian team in Szeged.
For the host nation, Bálint Kollek returns as one of Hungary’s major names after winning the K1 Under 23 Men 500m title in 2025, giving the home team one of its strongest individual storylines.
Denmark’s Frida Søborg, Serbia’s Strahinja Dragosavljević and Poland’s Juliusz Kitewski are also among the 2025 European champions listed for the 2026 championships.
In the crew boat events, several athletes who were part of winning crews in 2025 are also back in Szeged, including Levente Gyarmati and Lili Gazdag for Hungary, and Sofiia Zhushman for Ukraine. With some crews changing from one year to the next, their return adds another important storyline to the championships, as several athletes aim to continue their success with new or renewed team combinations.
These returning champions will add an important storyline to the championships, as several athletes attempt to defend European titles while others move into new age categories or new crews.
The 2025 edition in Bascov-Pitești underlined Hungary’s strength at this level.
Hungary finished clearly on top of the medal table with 18 gold, 9 silver and 7 bronze medals, for a total of 34 medals.
Ukraine was the second most successful nation by gold medals, winning 6 gold, 4 silver and 4 bronze medals, for a total of 14 medals. Poland followed with 4 gold, 5 silver and 2 bronze medals, while Italy also collected 4 gold medals and finished with 11 medals overall.
Czechia, Germany, Spain, Slovakia, Serbia, Romania, France and Denmark were also among the nations to win European titles in 2025, showing the strength and spread of canoe sprint talent across the continent.
For Hungary, the 2025 medal table was another demonstration of the depth of its development system. From individual events to crew boats, and from the Junior to the Under 23 categories, Hungarian athletes were present at the front of the competition across almost every part of the programme.
The 2026 Paddle Europe Junior and Under 23 Sprint Championships will bring together the next generation of European canoe sprint talent at a venue with a deep connection to the sport’s history.
For some athletes, Szeged will be a chance to defend European titles. For others, it will be a first opportunity to compete at this level and represent their country on one of canoe sprint’s most important stages.
The championships will also provide a clear picture of the future of European sprint racing. Many of the athletes competing in Szeged will become the senior finalists, World Championship medallists and Olympic contenders of the years ahead.
In a sport where Europe remains one of the strongest global forces, events like this are essential. They show the strength of the established canoeing nations, but also the progress of developing federations, smaller teams and new generations of athletes across the continent.
Szeged has already hosted some of Europe’s biggest canoeing moments. In July 2026, it will once again welcome the future of the sport.
Provisional timetable and start list available here:
https://timetable.europecanoeevents.com/
© 2021 ECA
