The first canoe slalom Paris Olympic quotas are closer to being decided, with Germany, the Czech Republic and Great Britian in the box seat.
The European Games in Krakow, Poland, will help determine which countries will get to compete at next year’s Paris Olympics.
Olympic gold medalists Ricarda Funk of Germany and Jiri Prskavec from the Czech Republic both added the inaugural European Games K1 titles to their impressive CV’s, while on Sunday German Elena Lilik and British paddler Ryan Westley won C1 titles.
Lilik was in tears after finishing 10th in Saturday’s K1 final, but bounced back to lock away her first European title and put Germany in prime position for an Olympic C1 ticket on Sunday.
"I am so happy I could learn from my mistake yesterday. The run was a fight,” Lilik said.
“I was really on a line in a few gates, but I kept pushing. I was so happy at the end. It was a little bit hard in my mind, because I remembered the run from yesterday and I wanted to do it better."
Poland’s Klaudia Zwolinska won her second silver medal for the weekend, while defending European champion Mallory Franklin of Great Britain took the bronze, despite six seconds in penalties.
British teammate Ryan Westley thought his career was over after he suffered an injury at an ICF slalom world cup in Ljubljana two weeks ago. But on Sunday Westley showed no long-term effects, snatching his second C1 European title after his maiden win in 2018.
"I did not think this could happen,” Westley said.
“I missed out at the Tacen World Cup with an injury. I went through a rollercoaster of emotions, flying over home from there thinking my career would be over again with another injury. I did not think I had it to come back from this one.
“Fortunately, physio and team back home helped me out big time. I was really happy to be in the final and I was in a position where the pressure was off."
Spain’s Miquel Trave took the silver, while the bronze medal went to Czech Vaclav Chaloupka.
The inaugural European Games kayak cross titles were won by Ukrainé's Viktoriia Us and Czech Ondrej Tunka.
The main batch of Olympic quotas will be decided to the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships at Lee Valley, London, in September.
