Mallorcans Àngels Moreno and Marcus Cooper shine at the European Sprint Championship

Spain concluded the European Sprint Championships with a total of eight medals, plus three more in Paracanoe, following a final day in which the Spanish team added five medals to its tally, three in Sprint and two in Paracanoe. Of those three golds, four silvers, and one bronze, four podium finishes came in Olympic events (both K4 500 and both C2 500 races).

The first gold medal of the day was won by Carlos Arévalo in the K1 200 final. The paddler from Betanzos claimed victory in the sprint event after a strong final push. That burst of speed allowed the Galician athlete to secure his second medal of the championship. He won with a time of 34.103 seconds, finishing 0.075 seconds ahead of Portugal’s Baptista. In doing so, he also improved on the bronze medal he earned in this event last season.

There were also high hopes for the two C2 500 finals, Olympic events in which Spain has consistently achieved strong results in recent years. First up were Àngels Moreno, representing the Reial Club Nàutic del Port de Pollença, and Viktoria Yarchevska. Although they were unable to defend the title they won at the previous championship, they fought hard for a podium place. They finished third and claimed the bronze medal with a time of 2:03.707, 2.9 seconds behind the winning Ukrainian duo of Liudmyla Luzan and Anastasiia Rybachok. The pair also secured a silver medal in the C2 200 category.

In the men’s final, Manuel Fontán and Diego Domínguez finished one step higher on the podium than their female teammates, bringing home the silver medal for Spain. They recorded a time of 1:43.301, exactly half a second behind the winning Russian pair, Zakhar Petrov and Ivan Shtyl, while finishing half a second ahead of the Hungarian crew that took bronze.

In addition to the medal-winning performances, Sunday morning saw Daniel Grijalba finish fifth in the C1 500 A final. The duo of Quique Adan and Carlos García won the B final of the K2 500, Estefanía Fernández placed fourth in the K1 500 B final, and Carolina García and Nerea García could only manage eighth place in the K2 500 A final.

Another notable result was the silver medal won by Marcus Cooper, representing the Reial Club Nàutic de Portopetro, in the K4 500 alongside teammates Adrián del Río, Carlos Arévalo, and Rodrigo Germade.

Later in the afternoon, the remaining four finals took place over the 5,000-metre distance. Unlike the races held at World Cups and the World Championships, these finals did not include portages. In the women’s C1 final, Ana Cantero finished seventh, more than 45 seconds behind the winner, Hungary’s Zsofia Csorba, who completed the race in 27:06.548.

In the men’s C1 final, Jaime Duro, who had won a silver and a gold medal in this year’s two World Cup events, was affected by the absence of portages, which ultimately prevented him from challenging for a podium position. The athlete from Pontevedra finished fourth, 55 seconds behind the winner, reigning world champion Sergei Tarnovschi of Moldova, who completed the race in 23:06.332.

The final two races were the K1 events. In the women’s final, Estefanía Fernández finished seventh, 55 seconds behind the winner, Hungary’s Kohalmi, who covered the 5,000 metres in 22:50.480. In the men’s race, Asturias paddler Alberto Llera was not far behind the leaders and finished ninth, 31 seconds behind the winner, local favourite Fernando Pimenta, who recorded a time of 21:09.116.

As for Paracanoe, following Juan Valle’s bronze medal in the KL3 200 on the previous day, Spain added two more medals on the final day of competition: a silver medal for Higinio Rivero in the VL2 200, improving on his podium result from last year, and another silver for Juan Valle and Araceli Menduíña in the new mixed K2 200 event.