16 July 2017
The 2016 Paralympic champions Jeanette Chippington and Emma Wiggs finished the first major competition after the Rio de Janeiro Paralympic games in the same position as they did in Brazil at the European Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, on Saturday.
Chippington produced the fastest time in KL1 200 metres final to take gold medal. Alexandra Dupik from Russia was second and Edina Mueller from Germany, defending champion from last year’s European Championships in Moscow, picked up the bronze medal.
Emma Wiggs, multiple World Championships medallist and Paralympic champion, also won a gold medal. She was the fastest in women’s KL2 final. Almost three seconds behind her was compatriot Charlotte Henshaw, while Nadezda Andreeva from Russia, last year’s champion, finished third.
“It has been a really long winter, full of hard work in the gym, so we didn’t really know what we will be able to race like, because we’ve been working so hard on getting stronger," Wiggs said.
"I am really excited that we have delivered a good run. It makes the next four years very exciting."
In the women’s KL3 200 metres event Cindy Moreau from France won the European Champion title. The bronze medallist of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games stopped the clock at 53.183, 0.100 seconds ahead of Mihaela Lulea from Romania and 1.756 seconds ahead of Helene Ripa from Sweden.
Paracanoe Va finals were also held, with Natalia Lahutenko (UKR), Mariia Nikiforova and Nadezda Andreeva (both RUS) picking up medals in the women’s VL2 200 metres event, while Robert Suba (HUN), Pavel Gromov (RUS) and Artur Chuprov (RUS) were the best in men’s VL1 200 metres final.
Austria's Markus Swoboda, who will be one of the main favourites in men’s parakayak event, has already won a European Champion title in Plovdiv. He was the best in men’s VL2 event, where he beat Ivo Kilian (GER) and Giuseppe di Lelio (ITA).
In the final paracanoeing event of the day, Jonathan Young concluded a successful day for the British team with a gold medal in men’s VL3 final. Victor Potanin and Aleksei Egorov picked up silver and bronze for Russia.
