Àngels Moreno and Álex Graneri shine on the opening day of the Sprint European Championships

The first day of the European Sprint Championships delivered a total of eight direct finals for the Spanish team, meaning medal opportunities in each of them. In addition, several of the boats that will have to go through the semifinals finished their qualifying rounds in second place, so hopes of a strong European campaign for the Spanish team remain intact.

In the early hours of the day, Laia Pèlachs set the best time in her heat in the K1 1000, maintaining the high level shown in the two World Cups held in Hungary and Germany, and controlling her rivals at all times.

The morning ended with four strong performances in the fastest distance. Antía Jácome and Pablo Graña (C1 200), and Sara Ouzande and Carlos Arévalo (K1 200), secured direct qualification to the final after excellent performances in their respective heats, with Pablo Graña once again finishing first in his race.

To conclude the morning session, the women’s K4 continues to delight Spanish canoeing with another final after finishing second in the 500m distance. They will fight for medals next Saturday, June 13th, at 13:14.

The men’s K4 missed direct qualification for the final by just 0.025 seconds. The Polish boat led the entire race, but in the final seconds the Spanish crew mounted a comeback that would have been enough if the race had been 5 meters longer, so they will now fight for a place in tomorrow’s semifinals, June 12th, at 11:55.

In the afternoon session, Daniel Grijalba confirmed his excellent form by qualifying directly for the final in the C1 500 after finishing second in his heat, just behind Czech paddler Martin Fuksa.

The last secured final spot went to the unstoppable pair formed by Ángels Moreno, from the Reial Club Nàutic del Port de Pollença, and Viktoria Yarchevska in the C2 500, who finished almost a second ahead of the second-place crew, qualifying directly for the final.

In addition to the men’s K4, several crews will have to go through the semifinals: Pablo Crespo in the C1 1000, Paco Cubelos, who narrowly missed first place, in the K1 1000, Álex Graneri from Real Club Náutico de Palma (5th in his K1 500 heat), Estefanía Fernández (7th in K1 500), Diego Domínguez and Manuel Fontán in the C2 500, and both K2 crews, Carolina García and Nerea García; and Carlos García and Kike Adán, who both finished second in their respective heats.

The Spanish Paracanoe team also delivered strong results with four direct finals. All four came with the same result: second place finishes for Adrián Mosquera in VL3 200, Higinio Rivero in VL2 200, and Juan Antonio Valle and Araceli Menduiña in KL3 200.

Those who will have to go through the semifinals are Axel Celmantí and María Jiménez (VL3 200), Inés Felipe, Carlota Blanca, José Javier Piñeiro and Ricardo Junquera in KL2 200, and Nicolás Martínez in KL3 200.