Czech athletes won a whopping 43 medals across sprint and classic races as the 2025 International Canoe Federation Junior and U23 Wildwater Canoeing World Championships in Solkan, Slovenia, concluded.
The Central European nation secured 11 titles to top the sprint medals table, with France and Slovenia finishing second and third, respectively.
In the classic events, their athletes stood on top of the podium 10 times, as Italy finished second and Germany third.
The European Championships in Mezzana in June were only a sign of what to expect, and Italian star Cecilia Panato delivered in style to open the World Championships.
She won the U23 women's canoe and kayak single titles in the classic, by dominating the course on the River Soca.
The 23-year-old pipped Great Britain's Kerry Christie by 22.09 in the women's K1, clocking 16:25.44, while bronze went to Anna Retkova of Czechia in 17:02.34.
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Daughter of the legendary Vladi Panato, she was 31.44 faster than second-placed Eve Vitali Guilbert of France, with another Frenchwoman, Laura Fontaine, adding to her European bronze in the C1.
The Czechs showed their intentions on the first day with a clean sweep of the men's and women's C1 junior titles in the classic.
Sandra Bergmannova led from the front among the girls in a tight final as Ondrej Kvapil stole the show for the boys.
The first of Belgium's two gold medals came in the women's K1 junior thanks to Marguerite De Hasque, who finished ahead of Bergmannova and Italian Elisa Bonafini.
Matous Beier ensured Czechia got one more gold medal on day one, finishing first in the men's C1 U23 final in 18:04.45.
In the K1, France clinched the junior gold when Felix Grondin clocked 15:49.84, and Finn Vogler of Germany cruised to the U23 title in 15:30.72.
Emma Christie and Kerry Christie defended their U23 women's canoe double title, with the latter securing the second medal of the day.
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They were 44.33 quicker than silver medallists Alina Zimmer and Franziska Gawehn of Germany in 19:37.66, with bronze going to the Swiss pair of Liz Nora Zeder and Glenys Ettlin.
The junior women's C2 gold was won by Czechia's Anna Vikova and Beta Beierova in 19:49.10, with Switzerland and France finishing second and third, respectively.
Swiss and French athletes prevented the Czechs from a one-two-three in the men's C2 races.
In the junior final, Kvapil combined with Tobias Trnka to win gold, before Czech compatriots Jachym Hanzel and Pavel Safarik settled for silver in 17:47.01. Third place went to the French duo of Emile Pichard and Gabriel Domnique Daniel Auvolat.
Samuel Vejnar and Adam Ondrich were the Czech heroes in the U23 title race in 17:28.06, but Jonah Muller and Cornel Bretscher of Switzerland split the podium and claimed silver before another Czech duo, Beier and Frantisek Salaj, secured bronze.
Sprint races saw Slovenian Hana Bedernjak beat Cecilia Leonori of Italy in the junior women's K1 in 58.62, with Frenchman Elouan Nogues crossing the line first in 52.83 in the men's K1.
It was almost a double podium sweep in the junior men's and women's C1 sprint races, but Camille Fourotte of France ensured that was not the case.
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Trnka and Kvapil were separated by 0.95 in the men's C1, with the former taking the title while compatriot Hanzel finished in 1:00.00 to seal yet another Czech domination.
In the women's junior C1, Magdalena Mala of Czechia was the fastest in 1:07.22, followed by Fourotte and bronze medallist Pavla Jilkova, who clocked 1:07.96.
Kvapil and Trnka then combined to deliver the junior men's C2 title in sprint in 57.81 to cap off a brilliant tournament.
There was more in store for Fourotte as well, who teamed up with Yaelle Bidault to cruise to the junior women's C2 sprint gold medal in 1:05.45.
Ana Steblaj was another Slovenian who triumphed in the sprint, registering 1.09 faster than Emma Lacoste of France, who won silver in 58.04 in the U23 women's K1.
The U23 men's K1 race was won by Vojtech Matejick of Czhecia after a tight battle. In the end, he was only 0.80 faster than Belgium's silver medallist Lean Bogaerts in 52.45.
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In the U23 C1 sprint races, Matteo Zanni of France emerged victorious among men in 58.25, and Retkova added to her bronze by finishing top in 1:03.53.
Great Britain's Christie sisters struck gold again after an intense battle with the Italians in the women's C2 U23 sprint final.
They timed 1:03.57 to get the better of Italians Panato and Elisabetta Fraccaroli, with bronze going to Zimmer and Gawehn.
Ondrich and Vejnar were once again victorious among men. The duo edged past Muller and Bretscher's time of 56.56 by 0.04 before Jerome Payen and Dimitri Tostain of France grabbed the final podium spot.
Picture by Czech Canoe
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