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24.7.2026
The second day of the 2026 Paddle Europe Junior and Under 23 Sprint Championships concluded in Szeged with the first title races of the competition now ready to take place.
Friday featured another demanding programme. The morning was dedicated to the semi-finals over 1000 and 500 metres, before the 200-metre events made their first appearance on the Maty-ér course during the afternoon.
Among the national federations, host nation Hungary secured the highest number of Final A places during the second day, with 13 individual entries or crews progressing.
Germany followed with 12 qualifications, while Czechia secured 11. Spain added nine Final A places, Ukraine eight and Poland seven. France, Italy and Serbia each progressed six entries, Denmark secured five and Portugal added four.
The strongest performances varied between the different distances. Germany and Spain were particularly successful in completing their 1000-metre final line-ups, while Czechia and Germany each secured six Final A places from Friday’s 500-metre semi-finals.
Hungary was especially prominent in the 200-metre events, securing seven direct Final A places during the afternoon programme.
Türkiye’s Rahmi Karahan was one of the standout performers of the second competition day.
Karahan won the second semi-final of the K1 Junior Men 1000 metres in 3:35.208, recording the fastest time across the two races. Italy’s Leonardo Candela won the opening semi-final in 3:37.000, only 0.034 seconds ahead of Estonia’s Roman Orlov.
Karahan returned later in the morning and again produced the fastest performance in the K1 Junior Men 500 metres, winning his semi-final in 1:38.503. He completed his day by winning his K1 Junior Men 200-metre heat and progressing to Saturday’s semi-finals.
The Turkish athlete will compete in the first title race of the championships on Saturday, lining up in lane three of the K1 Junior Men 1000-metre Final A. His rivals will include Ireland’s Sean Butterly, Italy’s Leonardo Candela, Estonia’s Roman Orlov, Hungary’s Huba Borda and Poland’s Adam Kuscinski.
Denmark’s Frida Søborg successfully negotiated the K1 Junior Women 1000-metre semi-finals, winning the opening race in 4:04.391.
Germany’s Rebecca Hirsch won the second semi-final in 4:06.228, while Hungary’s Nadin Csallo, Poland’s Oliwia Borucka, Romania’s Bianca Istratescu and Slovakia’s Paulina Suvova also secured places in Saturday’s Final A.
Søborg will now have the opportunity to defend the European title she won in Bascov in 2025. She will start Saturday’s final from lane three, with Czechia’s Barbora Janotová, Italy’s Anastasia Insabella and the remaining leading qualifiers among her main rivals.
France’s Marin Lanee produced the fastest time in the K1 Under 23 Men 1000-metre semi-finals, winning the opening race in 3:34.466.
Germany’s Jan Graf won the second semi-final in 3:35.371, finishing 0.440 seconds ahead of Israel’s Nevo Kleinman. Spain’s Marcos Caballero and Serbia’s Veljko Popovic also progressed through the semi-finals.
The nine-athlete final also includes Hungary’s Zoltan Mircse, Denmark’s Valdemar Jorgensen, Dzianis Yermolenka of AIN-B and Dmitrii Avdeev of AIN-A.
Mircse won the K1 Junior Men 1000-metre European title in 2025. Having moved into the Under 23 category, he will not defend the same title but will attempt to become European champion in his new age group.
Hungary’s Daniel Zemen and Adam Kaed won the K2 Under 23 Men 1000-metre semi-final, progressing to the title race alongside Portugal’s Rodrigo Santos and Nuno Fontes and Denmark’s Jeppe Borggaard and Jonas Durr.
Germany won both men’s canoe crew boat semi-finals. Emil Weber and Laurin Wendt led the C2 Junior Men 1000 metres, while Brain Marienhagen and Hannes Grambow were first in the C2 Under 23 Men race.
France and Ukraine completed the qualifying positions in the Junior event, while Italy and Spain progressed in the Under 23 category.
The AIN-A crew of Denis Petrov and Vsevolod Novoselov won the K2 Junior Men 1000-metre semi-final, ahead of the AIN-B and Czech crews.
Several athletes also delivered important performances in the 500-metre semi-finals.
Hungary’s Bianka Hofer recorded the fastest time across the three K1 Junior Women races, winning her semi-final in 1:53.105. Italy’s Anastasia Insabella won the second semi-final in 1:53.807, while Czechia’s Barbora Janotová took the opening race.
Portugal’s Ana Brito won the first K1 Under 23 Women semi-final in 1:52.591, finishing just 0.117 seconds ahead of Poland’s Zofia Wieclawska. Estonia’s Elizaveta Fedorova won the second race.
Karahan’s 1:38.503 was the leading performance in the K1 Junior Men 500 metres, while Dmitrii Avdeev recorded the fastest time in the K1 Under 23 Men semi-finals with 1:38.400.
Ukraine’s Timofii Melnychuk and Ivan Kysil won the C2 Junior Men semi-final. The Ukrainian K4 Under 23 Men crew also progressed with the fastest performance in its event, while Czechia and AIN-A won the two K4 Junior Men semi-finals.
The final races of Friday’s programme introduced the 200-metre events.
Czechia’s Barbora Janotová recorded the fastest time across the K1 Junior Women heats, winning in 41.257 seconds. Germany’s Judith Muehlenkamp and Sofya Zadontsava of AIN-B also won their respective heats and progressed directly to the final.
Ukraine’s Ivanna Dyachenko led the K1 Under 23 Women field with a time of 39.814, while Hungary’s Flora Tolgyesi won the second heat.
Oleksandr Hartsev of Ukraine produced the fastest K1 Under 23 Men time of the day, stopping the clock at 34.336. Hungary’s Levente Szabo and Denmark’s Jeppe Kristensen also won their heats and progressed directly to the Final A.
The K1 Junior Men competition will continue through three semi-finals on Saturday. Aliaksei Dashchynski of AIN-B recorded the fastest heat time with 35.264, ahead of Czechia’s David Mach, Italy’s Antonio Arizzi and Türkiye’s Rahmi Karahan.
In canoe, the leading performances included Anastasiia Romaniuk of AIN-A in the C1 Junior Women, Ekaterina Shliapnikova of AIN-A in the C1 Under 23 Women and Andrei Zholabau of AIN-B in the C1 Under 23 Men.
Saturday will mark the first medal day of the championships, with ten European titles to be awarded across the 1000-metre programme.
A total of 90 individual entries and crew boats representing 23 delegations will compete in the ten Final A races. Hungary is the only national federation represented in every title race.
Germany and Poland each have seven Final A entries, while Spain, Czechia and Italy have six apiece. Türkiye and Denmark will each be represented in four finals, with Portugal, Romania and Slovakia entering three title races. AIN-B also has an entry in all ten finals, while AIN-A will be represented seven times.
The first European title will be decided in the K1 Junior Men 1000 metres at 09:28. The C1 Junior Men, K1 Under 23 Men and C1 Under 23 Men finals will follow at seven-minute intervals.
The women’s individual titles will then be decided in the K1 Junior Women at 09:56 and K1 Under 23 Women at 10:03.
Following the first medal ceremonies, the crew boat finals will begin at 10:52. The programme includes the K2 Junior Men, C2 Junior Men, K2 Under 23 Men and C2 Under 23 Men 1000 metres.
Two athletes in Saturday’s Final A line-ups will attempt to defend the same European titles they won in 2025.
Czechia’s Adam Rudolf is the defending champion in the C1 Under 23 Men 1000 metres. Rudolf won the 2025 final in 3:54.427 and will start Saturday’s title race from lane five.
His opponents include Hungary’s David Uhrin, who won bronze behind Rudolf in 2025, as well as Moldova’s Mihai Chihaia, Türkiye’s Resul Aydin, Italy’s Samuele Veglianti and Bulgaria’s Preslav Georgiev.
Frida Søborg will defend the K1 Junior Women 1000-metre title she won in 4:07.447 last year. Her semi-final victory on Friday confirmed her place in a strong final that also features world-level contenders from Czechia, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Germany and Slovakia.
Several other 2025 medallists will return to the same events. Roman Orlov, bronze medallist in the K1 Junior Men 1000 metres, has reached the final again. Elizaveta Fedorova, silver medallist in the K1 Under 23 Women 1000 metres, will start from lane three, while David Uhrin returns after his bronze medal in the C1 Under 23 Men.
Hasan Sarac, who won bronze in the K2 Junior Men 1000 metres in 2025 alongside Muhammet Sulak, will return to the final with a new partner, Rahmi Karahan.
The third competition day will begin at 09:00 with four Final B races before the first title is awarded.
After the ten finals and their respective medal ceremonies, three women’s 500-metre semi-finals will take place before the lunch break.
The afternoon session begins at 14:30 and will feature the remaining semi-finals over 200 and 500 metres. A total of 29 semi-finals are scheduled across the day, determining the majority of the remaining Final A line-ups ahead of Sunday’s concluding programme.
Saturday will feature 43 races in total: four Final B races, ten European title races and 29 semi-finals. By the end of the day, the first champions of Szeged 2026 will have been crowned and the stage will be set for the final medal programme on Sunday.
© 2021 ECA
