The last day of the 2018 ECA Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe European Championships in Belgrade brought a lot of exciting racing, including a thrilling win to Spain in the men's K4 final.
Twenty sets of medals were awarded to the best European canoe sprinters in 200 and 500 metre events. One of the most dramatic finals on Sunday was the men’s K4 500 metres, where Spanish crew Saul Craviotto, Cristian Toro, Marcus Walz and Rodrigo Germade crossed the finish line only 0.014 second faster than Germans Max Rendschmidt, Tom Liebscher, Ronald Rauhe and Max Lemke.
Hungary with Sandor Totka, Miklos Dudas, Peter Molnar and Istvan Kuli was third.
It was a very successful day for Spain, as Craviotto and Toro picked up another gold for Spain in men’s K2 200 metres final, Carlos Garrote is the new European Champion in men’s K1 200 meters event, and Walz and Germade shared the silver medal with Russian duo Yury Postrigay – Vasily Pogreban in K2M 500 metres event.
Hungarian canoeist Virag Balla was on the podium on three occasions. She won gold medals together with Kincso Takacs in C2 200 and 500 metres finals and was third in the C1W 200 metres. Her compatriot Danuta Kozak also picked up two medals. She became European champion in women’s 500 metres and was second in the 200 metres final, behind Marta Walczykiewicz from Poland.
Martin Fuksa won his second gold medal of the championships in the men’s C1 500 metres final, and his compatriot Josef Dostal was the fastest man of K1 500 metres event. Zaza Nadirazde from Georgia is the new C1M 200 metres European champion, Teresa Portela and Joana Vasconcelos from Portugal were the best in women’s K2 200 metres event, Olesia Romasenko from Russia in women’s C1 200 metres final, and Manon Hostens and Sarah Guyot won gold medal for France in K2W 500 meters event.
Leonid Carp and Victor Mihalachi (ROU) were the best C2 in 500 metres distance, and Alexander Kovalenko – Ivan Shtyl (RUS) the best C2 in 200 metres. Host nation Serbia also celebrated medals thanks to the silver of Nebojša Grujić and Marko Novaković in K2 200 metres final, and Marko Dragosavljević who was third in men’s K1 200 metres event.
The last races of the championships were the 5000 meters events. Max Hoff became the new K1M champion, Sebastian Brendel C1M champion (both GER), Tamara Takacs (HUN) K1W champion and Volha Klimava (BLR) C1W champion.
RESULTS
K4M 500m
1. Spain
2. Germany
3. Hungary
K1W 500m
1. Danuta Kozak HUN
2. Volha Khudzenka BLR
3. Anna Pulawska POL
C1M 500m
1. Martin Fuksa CZE
2. Sebastian Brendel GER
3. Oleg Tarnovskyi MDA
C2W 500m 1. Virag Balla – Kincso Takacs HUN
2. Nadzeya Makarchanka – Volha Klimova BLR
3. Irina Andreeva – Olesia Romasenko RUS
K1M 500m
1. Josef Dostal CZE
2. Oleh Kukharyk UKR
3. Fernando Pimenta POR
K2W 500m
1. Manon Hostens – Sarah Guyot FRA
2. Erika Medveczky – Tamara Csipes HUN
3. Hermien Peters – Lize Broekx BEL
C2M 500m
1. Leonid Carp – Victor Mihalachi ROU
2. Pavel Petrov – Mikhail Pavlov RUS
3. Dmytro Ianchuk – Taras Mishchuk UKR
K2M 500m
1. Milan Mozgi – Tamas Somoracz HUN
2. Marcus Walz – Rodrigo Germade ESP
2. Yury Postrigay – Vasily Pogreban RUS
K1W 200m
1. Marta Walczykiewicz POL
2. Danuta Kozak HUN
3. Emma Jorgensen DEN
C1M 200m
1. Zaza Nadiradze GEO
2. Ivan Shtyl RUS
3. Artsen Kozyr BLR
K1M 200m
1. Carlos Garrote ESP
2. Arturas Seja LTU
3. Marko Dragosavljević SRB
C1W 200m
2. Dorota Borowska POL
3. Virag Balla HUN
K2W 200m
1. Teresa Portela – Joana Vasconcelos POR
2. Natalia Podolskaya – Vera Sobetova RUS
3. Dominika Wlodarczyk – Katarzyna Kolodzieyczk POL
C2M 200m
1. Alexander Kovalenko – Ivan Shtyl RUS
2. Hleb Saladukha – Dzianis Makhai BLR
3. Arsen Sliwinski – Michal Lubniewski POL
K2M 200m
1. Saul Craviotto – Cristian Toro ESP
2. Nebojša Grujić – Marko Novaković SRB
3. Mark Balaska – Balazs Birkas HUN
C2W 200m
1. Virag Balla – Kincso Takacs HUN
2. Alena Nazdrova – Kamila Bobr BLR
3. Irina Andreeva – Olesia Romasenko RUS
K1M 5000m
1. Max Hoff GER
2. Fernando Pimenta POR
3. Eivind Vold NOR
C1M 5000m
1. Sebastian Brendel GER
2. Kirill Shamshurin RUS
3. Carlo Tacchini ITA
K1W 5000m
1. Tamara Takacs HUN
2. Sarah Troel FRA
3. Hermien Peters BEL
C1W 5000m
1. Volha Klimava BLR
2. Zsanett Lakatos HUN
3. Liumyla Babak UKR
