Next week the first ECA European Championships in the season 2024 will take place in Portugal. The Azores Archipelago will host the 2024 ECA Ocean Racing European Championships between 12th and 14th April, while the Opening Ceremony will take place on 11th April.
After ten years the ECA Ocean Racing
European Championships is now returning to its country of birth. Portugal is
the European leader in organising ocean racing competitions of the highest
level. In 2014, Portugal hosted the inaugural ECA Ocean Racing European
Championships and a year before the first World Championships in history of
Ocean Racing was held in Portugal too.
The first ECA Ocean Racing European
Championships was organised in 2014 in Vila Do Conde, the same city that hosted
the 2013 World Championships in this canoeing discipline. The 2014 edition of
the ECA Ocean Racing European Championships attracted participants from
Portugal, Spain, France, Netherlands,
Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Great Britain, Hungary, Turkey,
Sweden, Malta, Finland, Ireland and Austria.
In addition to the athletes,
specialists for ocean racing, such as Esteban Ojeda, Yannick Laousse, Benoiit
Le Roux, Valentin Henot, Sara Trujillo, Angie Mouden, there were also some
famous names from canoe sprint and canoe marathon on the start line of the
first ocean racing championships of the Old Continent. These names included
German Olympic Champion Max Hoff, who finished 20th in men’s SS1 event, then
Denmark’s Rene Holten Poulsen, the 2008 Olympic Games silver medallist who
finished 26th in men’s SS1 race, then Jonathan Simmons, and Spain’s Walter
Bouzan, multiple medallist of canoe marathon European and World Championships
...
The first Ocean Racing European
Champion in the history became French kayaker Yannick Laousse. It took him one
hour, six minutes and 45 seconds to complete the course in the Atlantic Ocean.
Less than a minute behind him Laousse’s compatriot Benoit Le Roux reached the
finish line and claimed European Championships silver medal, while bronze medal
went to Spain. Daniel Viloria crossed the finish line in third position, and
was a minute and 12 seconds behind the first ever Ocean Racing European
champion.
The host nation was thrilled in
women’s senior SS1 event where two Portuguese paddlers took the top two podium
positions. Sara Rafael completed the course in one hour and 22 minutes, a
minute ahead of her compatriot Sofia Coelho. Spanish representative Sara
Trujillo picked up bronze medal and was a little less than four minutes behind
the winner.
In men’s U23 event Valentin Henot
took the win ahead of Victor Doux and Antonie Bihannic for a complete French
podium. France’s Noe Pelliza was the best in men’s junior SS1 event, finishing
the race ahead of Joao Silva from Portugal and Kevin Bihannic from France. In
women’s U23 event Angie Mouen from France won ahead of two Portuguese paddlers
Catarina Santos and Ana Rolla, while in junior race Joana Moura from Portugal
won ahead of her teammate Andreia Ribeiro and Spanish kayaker Claudia Viera.
The 2024 ECA Ocean Racing European
Championships in Azores will be one of the two major ocean racing events
organised this year in Portugal. This European Country will also host the 2024
ICF Ocean Racing World Championships later this year in Madeira. “For sure
Portugal will be the capital of Ocean Racing in 2024! We are used to hosting
major international competitions and we like a good challenge concerning our
sport. Since 2009 we have organised several international events in every
canoeing discipline, so we have a lot of experience and together with our local
partners in Azores and Madeira, with no doubt we will organise the best
European and World championships ever,” said Vitor Felix, the president of the
Portuguese Canoe Federation.
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