The first medals of the 2022 ECA
Junior and U23 Canoe Slalom European Championships in Ceske Budejovice, Czech
Republic, were awarded to the best kayak teams. France, Germany, Slovenia and
Czech Republic celebrated gold medals on day one.
A very demanding course setting on
the Vltava River in Ceske Budejovice caused problems to all the teams at the
start line of the opening day of the 2022 ECA Junior and U23 Canoe Slalom
European Championships. At the end medals were won by those teams that
navigated through the tough course with the least of mistakes.
Czech team was considered the main
favourite for the European Champion titles at their home course, but they
waited until the last team event of the day to celebrate gold medal. Women's
junior kayak team with Klara Kneblova, Katerina Svehlova and Olga Samkova won
the gold medal almost eight seconds ahead of Germany, while France picked up
bronze medal.
In men's junior kayak team event
Slovenia's Atej Zobec Urbancic, Ziga Lin Hocevar and Rene Jeklin produced
almost twelve and a half seconds faster run than the team of Germany. Italian
kayakers were third in the junior event.
France's Simon Hene, Anatole Delassus
and Pierre Louis Sausseau were crowned U23 men's K1 team European Champions.
They were four seconds ahead of Spanish trio, while Great Britain won bronze
medal.
In women's K1 U23 team event Germany
won the European Champion title ahead of France and Great Britain. Emily Apel,
Annkatrin Plochmann and Franziska Hanke picked up six penalty seconds on the
way, the least of all the teams in this event. France was only 0.35 behind with
a total of 8 penalties.
In the first part of the programme
the individual kayak heats were on the programme. Young Czech paddlers
performed well at their home course. Jakub Krejci was the fastest in men's K1
U23 heats, Lucie Nesnidalova won in women's U23 K1 heats and Klara Kneblova in
women's junior K1 heats. Titouan Castryck from France was the best kayaker in
men's junior heats.
As mentioned Krejci was the fastest
in men's U23 K1 heats, Pau Echaniz from Spain was second and Joshua Dietz from
Germany third. In women's U23 K1 heats, Czech Antonie Galuskova secured herself
second position behind her teammate Nesnidalova, and Monica Doria Vilarrubla
from Andorra was third. In men's junior kayak heats gold and silver medallists
of this year's junior and U23 World Championships, Titouan Castryck (FRA) and
Stepan Venc (CZE) again won first and second position, and Czech Matyas Novak
finished third in the first stage of the competition. Kneblova, Dominika
Brzeska (POL) and Leire Goni (ESP) were top three in women's junior K1 heats.
On Friday, the Championships
continues with junior and U23 men's and women's canoe heats, and all canoe team
events.
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