France and Czechia got off to a superb start in Liptovsky Mikulas with three gold medals each on a day of team events at the International Canoe Federation Canoe Slalom Junior and Under 23 World Championships.
It was an action-packed opening day at the Slovakian venue as paddlers worked together to achieve success for their respective nation in kayak and canoe.
France’s first success came in the men’s kayak U23 where Leo Vuitton, Anatole Delassus and Edgar Paleau-Brasseur triumphed in 88.09.
The trio defeated Great Britain by 0.51 while Italy crossed in 90.07 for bronze.
There was delight for France in the next race as Martin Cornu, Elouan Debliquy and Titouan Estanguet won men's kayak junior gold in 90.69 despite receiving a two-second penalty.
Italy won silver with Germany completing the podium in third.
France completed their hat-trick when Cornu, Debliquy and Estanguet combined again to clinch the men’s canoe junior title in 96.58.
Germany were the silver medallists, while Czechia bagged bronze.
Czechia also celebrated three gold medals with their first coming in women’s kayak junior event.
Bara Galuskova, Marketa Hojdova and Klara Mrazkova produced a clean run of 101.98 to seal top spot.
Germany and France picked up the respective silver and bronze medals.
Czechia came out on top in the men’s canoe U23 after finishing in a winning time of 92.92.
Adam Kral, Martin Kratochvil and Lukas Kratochvil were the gold medallists, while Slovenia took silver and France claimed bronze.
Czechia’s third and final gold came in the women’s canoe junior when Valentyna Kocirova, Marketa Stepankova and Natalie Erlova clocked 116.86 to take the title.
France secured silver, with Germany sealing bronze.
Czechia thought they had won another gold when Tereza Kneblova, Gabriela Satkova and Klara Kneblova posted what appeared to be a winning time only to hit with a 50-second penalty in the women's canoe U23 final.
This meant that Italy’s Marta Bertoncelli, Elena Micozzi and Elena Borghi took the glory in 110.90, while the German team clinched silver and Spain earned bronze.
“We have raced some many times together so we were confident and this is amazing,” said Borghi.
“I am happy as this is the last under-23 event for Marta so it is a great way to finish.
Bertoncelli added: “It’s really nice to start the competition like this for the individual races so all three of us will be confident of getting another medal.”
Germany were also victorious, winning the opening final in the women’s kayak U23 in a time of 99.67.
Antonia Plochmann, Emily Apel and Annkatrin Plochmann were crowned champions despite receiving two two-second penalties.
France and Czechia claimed the silver and bronze medals respectively.
Competition continues tomorrow with the heats in the U23 K1 and C1 classes.
All of today's results can be found here.
Pictures by ICF/Damiano Benedetto
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