The afternoon session of Canoe Sprint brought the same amount of excitement as the morning session

The semifinals in six disciplines marked the end of day one of the Canoe Sprint competition at the Kraków-Małopolska 2023 European Games. All finalists in six medal events are known. The afternoon session of the first day of competition at Kryspinow Waterway brought the same amount of excitement as the morning session.

In the afternoon semifinals a total of 21 remaining spots in the finals of six disciplines were up for grabs and we witnessed seven very high quality races.

The afternoon session started with the K4 500 semifinals which brought the same level of excitement as the heats in the morning. In the men’s competition the semifinal was won by the German crew who were considered to be the favourites in the morning session. Max RENDSCHMIDT, Tom LIEBSCHER, Jacob SCHOPF and Max LEMKE found the rhythm towards the end of the race that was for the most part dominated by the Serbian boat (Andjelo DZOMBETA, Marko NOVAKOVIC, Stefan VRDOLJAK, Vladimir TORUBAROV) snatching the first place in front of them by 0.177 seconds. The third spot in the final was won by the Czech boat (Jakub SPICAR, Jakub BRABEC, Jakub ZAVREL, Radek SLOUF). The medals in men’s K4 500 will be awarded on Friday at 14:25.

In the women’s competition the semifinal was won by the crew from Portugal (Francisca LAIA, Joana VASCONCELOS, Teresa PORTELA, Maria REI) with a clear advantage in front of the Ukranians (Diana TANKO, Nataliia DOKIIENKO, Hanna PAVLOVA, Inna HRYSHCHUN), and the boat from Czechia (Anezka PALOUDOVA, Katerina ZARUBOVA, Barbora BETLACHOVA, Adela HAZOVA). The women’s K4 500 final will take place on Thursday at 14:43.

The semifinals in 500 metres Canadian Doubles had clear winners in both competitions. The men’s semifinal was won by Hungarians (Jonatan HAJDU, Adam FEKETE), with the Moldovans (Oleg TARNOVSCHI, Mihai CHIHAIA) and Ukranians (Vitaliy VERGELES, Andrii RYBACHOK) securing the remaining places in the coveted medal event on Thursday at 14:16.

The French women’s C2 (Axelle RENARD, Eugenie DORANGE) won the semifinal in front of Ines PENETRA and Beatriz FERNANDES from Portugal, and the Chezch duo (Denisa RAHOVA, Martina MALIKOVA) who completed the startlist for the final which will take place on Thursday at 14:25.

In the women’s K2 500 semifinal the first three crews had a clear path to the coveted spots in the final. The race was won by Swedish boat (Linnea STENSILS, Moa WIKBERG), second over the finish line were the Slovakians (Katarina PECSUKOVA, Bianka SIDOVA) with the Serbian boat (Marija DOSTANIC, Kristina BEDEC) snatching the last spot in the final. Women’s K2 500 final will take place on Friday at 14:16.

The first day of competition at the European Championships finished as strongly as it started, with two semifinals in men’s K2 500. From the heats only the winners secured the direct spot in the final, so in the semifinals three tickets to the final from each race were up for grabs.

The last race of the day proved to be highly contested with the German boat (Felix FRANK, Martin HILLER) just about edging the Ukranians Oleh KUKHARYK and Ihor TRUNOV by 0.034 seconds for the first place in the semifinal. The Latvian duo (Aldis VILDE, Aleksejs RUMJANCEVS) finished the semifinal in the third place. Previously the three remaining spots in the K2 500 metre final were secured by Belgians (Bram SIKKENS, Artuur PETERS), Swedes (Joakim LINDBERG, Martin NATHELL) and the boat from Slovakia (Erik VLCEK, Akos GACSAL).

The men’s K2 500 metres final will take place on Thursday at 14:34.

All results and the schedule for the second day of canoe sprint competition can be found here.

European Games Krakow-Malopolska 2023 is the Europe’s biggest multidisciplinary sporting event in 2023. More than 7 thousand athletes are competing in 26 sports and 29 disciplines for 253 gold medals. More than that, European Games 2023 are part of the qualification process for the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 in 19 sports. This great celebretion of sports starts with opening ceremony in Krakow on 21st of June. The closing ceremony will take place on July 2nd.