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24.9.2026
The Slovak trio completed the course in 95.06 seconds and added only two penalty seconds for a winning total of 97.06.
Italy pushed them all the way on home water, with Stefanie Horn, Agata Spagnol and Lucia Pistoni finishing just 1.28 seconds behind to take silver.
France completed the podium, only 1.73 seconds off the winning time.
Slovakia entered the final with all three athletes already safely through the individual K1 heats earlier in the day.
Mintalova had been the fastest individual paddler of the morning, Pankova finished ninth and Stanovska also progressed to the semifinal.
Together, they converted that depth into the first European title awarded in Ivrea.
Their run was not the fastest raw time of the final, but the Slovak team limited its penalties to two seconds and that proved decisive.
It is also a significant addition to Slovakia’s recent European record in women’s kayak teams. Between 2020 and 2025, the title had gone to Czechia, Great Britain, France and Slovenia, meaning Slovakia had not won this event during that six-edition period.
The host nation produced another strong performance after an excellent morning of heats.
Horn, Spagnol and Pistoni finished with a raw time of 96.34 and two penalty seconds for a total of 98.34.
The result gave Italy the first medal of the Championships and came after all three athletes had also qualified for the individual K1 semifinal earlier in the day.
Horn in particular had already shown strong form, finishing fourth in the individual heats.
Italy’s silver therefore continued a very positive opening day for the home team.
France produced the fastest raw time of the final.
Emma Vuitton, Camille Prigent and Marjorie Delassus completed the course in 94.79 seconds, quicker than both Slovakia and Italy.
However, four penalty seconds lifted their final result to 98.79, leaving them 1.73 seconds behind the champions and in third place.
Without those extra penalty seconds, France would have been comfortably inside the gold-medal time.
The bronze nevertheless continues a very strong recent record for France in this event.
France won the European women’s K1 team title in both 2022 and 2023, took silver in 2024 and had already been on the podium in 2020.
Poland was the next team across the line.
Klaudia Zwolinska, Dominika Brzeska and Hanna Danek finished fourth with 101.54, 4.48 seconds behind Slovakia.
Germany followed in fifth and Spain in sixth, with only 0.26 seconds separating the two teams.
Slovenia, the 2024 European champions, finished seventh with Eva Alina Hocevar, Lea Novak and Eva Tercelj.
The biggest changes in the classification came from Great Britain and Czechia.
Great Britain, represented by Kimberley Woods, Lois Leaver and Mallory Franklin, received a 50-second penalty and dropped to ninth place with a total of 151.91.
That ended their podium challenge despite Britain’s strong history in this event, including the European title here in Ivrea in 2021.
Czechia suffered a similar fate.
Amalie Hilgertova, Katerina Bekova and Bara Galuskova also received a 50-second penalty, dropping to tenth place on 153.91.
The result is especially notable because Czechia arrived in Ivrea as the defending European champion, having won the women’s K1 team title in 2025.
After a morning dominated by individual heats, the first medals of the Championships were decided in the women’s K1 team final.
Slovakia took gold with 97.06.
Italy earned silver, only 1.28 seconds behind.
France completed the podium after recording the fastest raw time but losing ground through penalties.
For Mintalova, Pankova and Stanovska, the result turns an already strong opening day into a championship-winning one.
Slovakia are the 2026 European women’s K1 team champions — and the first gold medallists of the Championships in Ivrea.
© 2021 ECA
