Canoe sprint at the European Games

Canoe sprint has been a fixed feature at the European Games from the start.

At the inaugural 2015 European Games held in Baku, 350 athletes from eighteen countries competed for the coveted medals in canoe sprint in the total of 15 medal events (three events in canoe and twelve events in kayak). Apart from the disciplines from the Olympic program, the Games in Azerbaijan also saw the competition in K1-5000 events in both gender categories. Hungary led the medal table with 9 medals (4 gold and 5 bronze) with a total of fifteen countries winning a medal at the Kur Sport and Rowing Centre in Mingachevir. German Max Hoff was the most successful competitor in K1 events winning gold in both K1-1000 and K1-500 respectively. In the ladies’ competition Hungarian Danuta Kozák won three medals: gold in K1-5000 and in K4-500 as well as the bronze in K1-200.

Medalists:

C1-200 Men
1. Henrikas Žustautas (LTU)
2. Valentin Demyanenko (AZE)
3. Martin Fuksa (CZE)

C1-1000 Men
1. Sebastian Brendel (GER)
2. Martin Fuksa (CZE)
3. Attila Vajda (HUN)

C2-1000 Men
1. Andrei Bahdanovich, Aliaksandr Bahdanovich (BLR)
2. Alexey Korovashkov, Ilya Pervukhin (RUS)
3. Peter Kretschmer, Michael Mueller (GER)

K1-200 Men
1. Petter Mening (SWE)
2. Ed McKeever (GBR)
3. Marko Dragosavljević (SRB)

K1-1000 Men
1. Max Hoff (GER)
2. Fernando Pimenta (POR)
3. Rene Holten Poulsen (DEN)

K1-5000 Men
1. Max Hoff (GER)
2. Fernando Pimenta (POR)
3. Cyrille Carré (FRA)

K2-200 Men
1. Nebojša Grujić, Marko Novaković (SRB)
2. Ronald Rauhe, Tom Liebscher (GER)
3. Sándor Tótka, Péter Molnár (HUN)

K2-1000 Men
1. Zoltán Kammerer, Tamás Szalai (HUN)
2. Max Rendschmidt, Marcus Gross (GER)
3. Vitaliy Bialko, Raman Piatrushenka (BLR)

K4-1000 Men
1. Zoltán Kammerer, Dávid Tóth, Tamás Kulifai, Dániel Pauman (HUN)
2. Alexandr Sergeev, Vasily Pogreban, Anton Ryakhov, Vladislav Blintcov (RUS)
3. Pavel Miadzvedzeu, Aleh Yurenia, Vitaliy Bialko, Raman Piatrushenka (BLR)

K1-200 Women
1. Marta Walczykiewicz (POL)
2. Natalia Podolskaya (HUN)
3. Danuta Kozák (HUN)

K1-500 Women
1. Danuta Kozák (HUN)
2. Yvonne Schuring (AUT)
3. Ewelina Wojnarowska (POL)

K1-5000 Women
1. Maryna Litvinchuk (BLR)
2. Lani Belcher (GBR)
3. Renáta Csay (HUN)

K2-200 Women
1. Marharyta Makhneva, Maryna Litvinchuk (BLR)
2. Nikolina Moldovan, Olivera Moldovan (SRB)
3. Mariya Povkh, Anastasiia Todorova (UKR)

K2-500 Women
1. Milica Starović, Dalma Ružičić-Benedek (SRB)
2. Roxana Borha, Elena Meroniac (ROU)
3. Anna Kárász, Ninetta Vad (HUN)

K4-500 Women
1. Gabriella Szabó, Anna Kárász, Danuta Kozák, Ninetta Vad (HUN)
2. Franziska Weber, Verena Hantl, Conny Wassmuth, Tina Dietze (GER)
3. Karolina Naja, Ewelina Wojnarowska, Edyta Dzieniszewska-Kierkla, Beata Mikołajczyk (POL)

Four years later, the 2019 European Games in Minsk, effectively hosted the European Championships in canoe sprint. At the Zaslavl Regatta Course where the competition took place, a total of sixteen sets of medals were awarded, distributed evenly in the men’s and women’s competition.

A total of four athletes won multiple medals in Minsk. The most successful competitor was Hungarian Bálint Kopasz who, like Max Hoff four years earlier, won gold medals in both K1-1000 and K1-5000. The Portuguese Fernando Pimenta, like in Baku, won two silver medals in the same disciplines. Max Hoff also won two medals: gold in K2-1000 and a bronze in K1-5000, as well as the Russian Kirill Shamshurin in C1-1000 (silver) and C2-1000 (bronze).

In the women’s competition the Hungarian Danuta Kozák won four medals (gold in the K4-500, and three silver medals in K1-200, K1-500 and K2-500). The local heroes Volha Khudzenka and Maryna Litvinchuk won three medals. The pair from Belarus won gold in K2-500 and K4-500, in addition to the gold medals in K1-500 (Khudzenka) and K1-5000 (Litvinchuk) respectively.

The host nation, Belarus, led the medal table with a total of 10 medals: 5 golds, 2 silvers and 3 bronze medals.

Medalists:

C1-200 Men
1. Artsem Kozyr (BLR)
2. Nicolae Craciun (ITA)
3. Alfonso Benavides (ESP)

C1-1000 Men
1. Tomasz Kaczor (POL)
2. Kirill Shamshurin (RUS)
3. Sebastian Brendel (GER)

C2-1000 Men
1. Cătălin Chirilă, Victor Mihalachi (ROU)
2. Andrii Rybachok, Yurii Vandiuk (UKR)
3. Ilya Pervukhin, Kirill Shamshurin (RUS)

K1-200 Men
1. Maxime Beaumont (FRA)
2. Balázs Birkás (HUN)
3. Dzmitry Tratsiakou (BLR)

K1-1000 Men
1. Bálint Kopasz (HUN)
2. Fernando Pimenta (POR)
3. Aleh Yurenia (BLR)

K1-5000 Men
1. Bálint Kopasz (HUN)
2. Fernando Pimenta (POR)
3. Max Hoff (GER)

K2-1000 Men
1. Max Hoff, Jacob Schopf (GER)
2. Oleh Kukharyk, Oleksandr Syromiatnykov (UKR)
3. Roman Anoshkin, Vladislav Litovka (RUS)

K4-500 Men
1. Artem Kuzakhmetov, Aleksandr Sergeyev, Oleg Gusev, Vitaly Ershov (RUS)
2. Max Rendschmidt, Ronald Rauhe, Tom Liebscher, Max Lemke (GER)
3. Samuel Baláž, Erik Vlček, Csaba Zalka, Adam Botek (SVK)

C1-200 Women
1. Alena Nazdrova (BLR)
2. Lisa Jahn (GER)
3. Dorota Borowska (POL)

C2-500 Women
1. Virág Balla, Kincső Takács (HUN)
2. Nadzeya Makarchanka, Volha Klimava (BLR)
3. Kseniia Kurach, Olesia Romasenko (RUS)

K1-200 Women
1. Emma Jørgensen (DEN)
2. Danuta Kozák (HUN)
3. Marta Walczykiewicz (POL)

K1-500 Women
1. Volha Khudzenka (BLR)
2. Danuta Kozák (HUN)
3. Emma Jørgensen (DEN)

K1-5000 Women
1. Maryna Litvinchuk (BLR)
2. Dóra Bodonyi (HUN)
3. Marianna Petrušová (SVK)

K2-200 Women
1. Mariya Povkh, Liudmyla Kuklinovska (UKR)
2. Franziska John, Tina Dietze (GER)
3. Volha Khudzenka, Maryna Litvinchuk (BLR)

K2-500 Women
1. Volha Khudzenka, Maryna Litvinchuk (BLR)
2. Anna Kárász, Danuta Kozák (HUN)
3. Anastasia Panchenko, Kira Stepanova (RUS)

K4-500 Women
1. Anna Kárász, Danuta Kozák, Tamara Csipes, Erika Medveczky (HUN)
2. Marharyta Makhneva, Nadzeya Papok, Volha Khudzenka, Maryna Litvinchuk (BLR)
3. Karolina Naja, Katarzyna Kołodziejczyk, Anna Puławska, Helena Wiśniewska (POL)

This year, at the 2023 European Games in Krakow, canoe sprint will see 282 athletes from 35 countries compete for 16 sets of medals in seven events for men and women respectively and the two mixed events. The competition will take place on the lagoon in Kryspinow Waterway from June 21st, with the final medal events taking place on June 24th.