By Nina Jelenc
Emma Aastrand Jorgensen, Dora Bodonyi, Max Hoff - Jacob Schopf, Sebastian Brendel, Liudmyla Luzan and Olesia Romasenko won two medals each on the last day of the 2021 ECA Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe European Championships in Poznan, Poland.
Danish kayaker Emma Jorgensen will surely remember the 2021 ECA Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe European Championships which took place this week in Poland. 25-year-old paddler won European Champion title in women's 500 metres final and bronze medal in women's K4 event. In addition to this she also became European Champion in the 200 metres distance on the Malta Lake in Poznan.
"I'm not in totally top form, but I am getting there for the Olympics," she said.
"It's really nice to be there with the girls and in the K1. It has been a really good day. Today the conditions were really good. There was not that much head wind, a little bit in the last 200, so you had to keep pushing.
"My arms were getting more and more stiff in the last 200 metres, but I was just doing my best and continued to pace as best as possible."
In Sunday's 500 metres final Jorgensen beat Olympic champion Danuta Kozak from Hungary by half a second, while Mariya Povkh from Ukraine picked up the bronze medal. In K4 Denmark with Jorgensen on board finished third, behind the crews from Hungary and Belarus.
Dora Bodonyi was part of the winning Hungarian K4 together with Dora Lucz, Tamara Csipes and Anna Karasz and in addition she also became European champion in the 5000 metres event, where Russian Elena Mironchenko and German Sabrina Hering-Pradler joined her on the winner's podium.
It was a very successful day for Germans too. Max Hoff and Jacob Schopf won the European champion titles in men's K2 1000 meters final, ahead of Samuel Balaz - Adam Botek (SVK) and Ricardas Nekriosius - Andrej Olijnik (LTU). Hoff and Schopf finished third in the men's K2 500 metres event, behind Belarussians Uladzislau Litvinau - Dzmitry Natynchyk and Ukrainians Dmytro Danylenko - Oleh Kukharyk.
Sebastian Brendel won double European champion titles on Sunday. He was unbeatable in men's C2 1000 metres final where he paddled together with Tim Hecker, and Brendel concluded the European championships in style with a gold medal in the 5000 metres event.
In C2 Kirill Shamshurin and Ilya Pervukhin (RUS) and Catalin Chirila - Victor Mihalachi (ROU) were also on the podium, while in the C1 5000 metres final Hungarian Nicholas Fodor and Italian Carlo Tacchini joined Brendel on the podium.
Sandor Totka (HUN) was the fastest in men's K1 200 metres final, beating the world record holder Liam Heath (GBR) and Petter Menning (SWE).
To much joy of the local organisers Dorota Borowska from the Polish team celebrated European Champion title in women's C1 200 metres final. Liudmyla Luzan (UKR) and Olesia Romasenko (RUS) joined her on the winner's podium.
Both Luzan and Romasenko were on the podium in women's C2 200 meters final as well. Olesia Romasenko paddled together with Irina Andreeva and won gold medal, ahead of Hungarians Virag Balla - Kincso Takacs and Ukrainians Luzan and Anastasiia Chetverikova.
Slovenia won its first European Championships gold medal thanks to Spela Ponomarenko Janic and Anja Osterman who were unbeatable in women's K2 200 metres final. Polish duo Dominika Putto - Katarzyna Kolodziejczyk were second and Hungarians Anna Lucz and Blanka Kiss third.
Martin Fuksa (CZE) celebrated another European Champion title in addition to yesterday's 1000 meters success. This time he produced the best time in the 500 meters final. Serghei Tarnovschi from Moldova was second and Conrad-Robin Scheibner from Germany third.
Spanish canoeists Alberto Pedrero and Pablo Grana were the winners of the men's C2 200 metres final, Arsen Sliwinski - Michal Marek Lubniewski (POL) were second and Henrikas Zustautas - Vadim Korobov (LTU) third.
In the 5000 metres kayak final Hungarian representative Balint Noe celebrated a win ahead of Belarussian Aleh Yurenia and Portuguese Fernando Pimenta, while Volha Klimava (BLR), Dora Horanyi (HUN) and Liudmyla Babak (UKR) won medals in women's C1 5000 metres race.
Hungary was the most successful participating nation of the European Championships, winning a total of 18 medals, nine gold, seven silver and two bronze medals. In the canoe sprint part of the European Championships 20 different countries won at least one medal, while in the paracanoe part of the competition eleven countries won medals.
ECA Canoe Sprint European Championships will return to Poznan in the end of June, when the Malta Lake will host the 2021 ECA Junior and U23 Canoe Sprint European Championships.
