Ukraine’s Liudmyla Luzan completed another an astonishing maul of four canoe gold medals with two, while home favourite Fernando Pimenta finished in style on the last day of the Paddle Europe Sprint Championships in Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal.
After capturing the women’s canoe single 200m and women’s canoe double 500m crowns on Saturday, Luzan did the same again over 500m.
Luzan swept to victory in the women’s C1 500m before joining forces with Anastasiia Rybachok to seal women’s C2 500m gold.
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It was also a day to remember for Pauline Jagsch as she triumphed in the women’s kayak single 500m before teaming up with Paulina Paszek to secure the women’s kayak double 500m title.
Germany’s other gold medal came in the men’s K2 500m as Olympic champions Jacob Schopf and Max Lemke emerged victorious, while AIN-A duo Zakhar Petrov and Ivan Shtyl came out on top in the men’s C2 500m.
Pimenta saved his best performance until last as he thrilled the home fans with a stunning men’s K1 5000m gold.
Hungary’s Emese Kohalmi bagged women’s K1 5000m gold, while compatriot Zsofia Csorba and Moldova’s Serghei Tarnovschi won the respective women’s and men’s C1 5000m titles.
Luzan’s third gold in Montemor-o-Velho came in the non-Olympic event of the women’s C1 500m as she powered to the title in 2:00.822.
Italy’s Olympia Della Giustina came second in 2:03.347 with Hungary’s Reka Opavszky earning bronze in 2:03.981.
Luzan’s fourth and final gold of this year’s European Championships came in the women’s C2 500m.
Partnering Rybachok, the Ukrainian pairing crossed the finish line in a winning time of 2:00.787.
Hungary’s Agnes Anna Kiss and Bianka Nagy sealed silver in 2:02.507, while Spain’s defending champions Angels Moreno and Viktoria Yarchevska secured bronze in 2:03.707.
There was also double delight for Germany’s Jagsch as she picked up two gold medals on the final day of competition.
Jagsch overcame world champion Anna Pulawska of Poland and European champion Zsoka Csikos to secure women’s K1 500m gold in 1:47.164.
Pulawska finished runner-up in 1:48.004 as Csikos had to settle with bronze after crossing in 1:48.024.
Jagsch got her second gold of the day when she linked up with Paszek to capture the women’s K2 500m title.
A time of 1:45.896 saw the Germans take top spot, beating Poland’s Pulawska and Martyna Klatt who finished in 1:46.426 for silver.
The bronze went to Italy’s Lucrezia Zironi and Giada Rossetti in 1:46.856.
Jagsch won two of Germany’s three golds in Montemor-o-Velho as Schopf and Lemke bagged the other.
Schopf and Lemke topped the men’s K2 500m podium after finishing in 1:30.921, overcoming the Hungarian pairing of Levente Kurucz and Bence Fodor who claimed silver in 1:31.806.
A time of 1:32.016 saw enough for Czechia’s Jakub Spicar and Daniel Havel to seal bronze.
Petrov and Shtyl added European gold to their world title in the men’s C2 500m as she triumphed in 1:42.801.
Spain’s Manuel Fontan and Diego Dominguez clinched silver in 1:43.301, while Hungary’s Daniel Fejes and Jonatan Hajdu crossed in 1:43.816 for bronze.
Czechia’s Martin Fuksa picked up another gold medal. This time, it came in the men’s C1 500m as he defended his crown in 1:45.367.
AIN-A competitor Alexey Korovashkov bagged silver in 1:46.142, while Greece’s Stefanos Dimopoulos claimed bronze in 1:46.967.
Spain’s Carlos Arevalo came out on top in the men’s K1 200m after getting the better of home favourite Messias Baptista.
Arevalo clinched victory in 34.103 as Baptista took silver in 34.178 and Hungary’s Gergely Balogh earned bronze in 34.218.
The day ended in fantastic fashion for the Portuguese crowd as Pimenta put on a show at home.
In a grandstand finish, Pimenta dug deep to beat Denmark’s Mads Pedersen with a time of 21:09.116.
Pedersen picked up silver in 21:10.102, while the bronze went to Slovakia’s Samuel Balaz in 21:12.850.
Hungary also finished with a late flourish as Kohalmi and Csorba delivered gold medals.
Kohalmi backed up her victory in the women’s K1 1000m with success in the women’s K1 5000m.
She secured the win in 22:50.480, overcoming Sweden’s Melina Andersson who came second in 22:51.363.
AIN-B paddler Uladzislava Skryhanava finished in 23:09.408 for bronze.
Csorba maintained her grip on the women’s C1 5000m as she cruised to victory in 27:06.548.
AIN-B competitor Maryia Papichych came home in 27:08.867 for silver before Germany’s Carlotta Loske crossed in 27:09.299 for bronze.
Moldova’s Tarnovschi denied Hungary another gold medal when he saw off Balazs Adolf for victory in the men’s C1 5000m.
He proved too strong, winning in 23:06.332 as Adolf finished in 23:19.199 for silver and Poland’s Wiktor Glazunow secured bronze in 23:48.723.
Pictures by Luis Eiras
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