Canoe Sprint European Championships facts for kids

The European Canoe Sprint Championships is a big international sports event. Athletes from all over Europe compete in canoeing and kayaking races. These races are called "sprint" because they are short and fast!

The European Canoe Association (ECA) organizes this exciting event every year. The very first championship happened in 1933 in Prague. After a break, the championships started up again in 1997 and have been held every year since.

Some athletes have won many medals! The most successful female athlete is Katalin Kovács from Hungary. She has an amazing 29 gold medals, 17 silver medals, and 2 bronze medals. For men, Ronald Rauhe from Germany leads with 17 European championship wins.

Past Championships

This table shows where and when the European Canoe Sprint Championships have taken place over the years. It also shows how many different races (events) were held at each championship.

Edition	Year	Host City	Events
1	1933	Prague, Czechoslovakia	7
2	1934	Copenhagen, Denmark	8
3	1936	Duisburg, Germany	2
4	1957	Ghent, Belgium	15
5	1959	Duisburg, West Germany	15
6	1961	Poznań, Poland	16
7	1963	Jajce, Yugoslavia	16
8	1965	Bucharest, Romania	16
9	1967	Duisburg, West Germany	16
10	1969	Moscow, Soviet Union	16
Not held from 1970 to 1996
11	1997	Plovdiv, Bulgaria	26
12	1999	Zagreb, Croatia	26
13	2000	Poznań, Poland	26
14	2001	Milan, Italy	27
15	2002	Szeged, Hungary	27
16	2004	Poznań, Poland	27
17	2005	Poznań, Poland	27
18	2006	Račice, Czech Republic	27
19	2007	Pontevedra, Spain	27
20	2008	Milan, Italy	27
21	2009	Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany	27
22	2010	Trasona, Spain	24+1
23	2011	Belgrade, Serbia	25
24	2012	Zagreb, Croatia	26
25	2013	Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal	26 + 9
26	2014	Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany	26 + 8
27	2015	Račice, Czech Republic	27 + 11
28	2016	Moscow, Russia	27 + 11
29	2017	Plovdiv, Bulgaria	27 + 10
30	2018	Belgrade, Serbia	30 + 10
–	2019*	Poznań, Poland	12
–	2020	Bascov, Romania	–
31	2021	Poznań, Poland	30 + 12
32	2022	Munich, Germany	29 + 11
33	2023*	Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal
34	2024	Szeged, Hungary	29 + 10

• In 2023, only Paracanoe events were held as Canoe Sprint was part of the European Games.
• The 1963 World Championships were also counted as that year's European championships.
• The ECA did not organize the 2019 championships because of the European Games. Instead, a separate Paracanoe European Championships took place.
• The 2020 championships were cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Paracanoe events were added to the championships starting in 2010, and then regularly from 2013 onwards.

Junior and U23 Championships

There are also European Championships for younger athletes. These are for "Juniors" (usually under 18) and "U23" (Under 23) athletes.

Edition	Year	Host City	Events
Junior
1	1996
2	1998
3	2000	, France
4	2002	Zagreb, Croatia
5	2004	Poznań, Poland
6	2006	Athens, Greece
Junior and U23
7 + 1	2007	Belgrade, Serbia
8 + 2	2008	Szeged, Hungary
9 + 3	2009	Poznań, Poland
10 + 4	2010	,
11 + 5	2011	Zagreb, Croatia
12 + 6	2012	Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal	21 + 21
13 + 7	2013	Poznań, Poland	21 + 21
14 + 8	2014	Mantes-en-Yvelines, France	21 + 21
15 + 9	2015	Pitești, Romania	22 + 22
16 + 10	2016	Plovdiv, Bulgaria	23 + 23
17 + 11	2017	Belgrade, Serbia	23 + 23
18 + 12	2018	Auronzo, Italy	18 + 18
19 + 13	2019	Račice, Czech Republic	18 + 18
20 + 14	2021	Poznań, Poland
21 + 15	2022	Belgrade, Serbia
22 + 16	2023	,
23 + 17	2024	,
24 + 18	2025	Pitești, Romania

• The 2020 Junior and U23 championships were not held.

Senior Medals by Country

This section shows which countries have won the most medals in the main European Canoe Sprint Championships from 1933 to 2024.

Canoe and Kayak Medals (1933–2024) This table lists all the medals won by each country. Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total 1  Hungary 177 139 93 409 2  Germany 125 113 95 333 3  Russia 65 55 65 185 4  Romania 49 57 43 149 5  Belarus 43 44 38 125 6  Poland 40 69 72 181 7  Soviet Union 40 33 26 99 8  Czech Republic 25 15 25 65 9  Spain 23 37 45 105 10  Slovakia 17 20 13 50 11  Denmark 15 20 16 51 12  Lithuania 14 10 16 40 13  Italy 14 8 21 43 14  Great Britain 13 8 10 31 15  Ukraine 12 19 32 63 16  Portugal 11 10 17 38 17  Serbia 10 12 13 35 18  Sweden 7 24 16 47 19  Norway 7 5 9 21 20  East Germany 6 5 12 23 21  France 5 11 8 24 22  Bulgaria 5 7 12 24 23  Czechoslovakia 5 6 7 18 24  Azerbaijan 5 3 1 9 25  Austria 2 3 8 13 26  Israel 2 2 3 7 27  Moldova 1 4 5 10 28  Slovenia 1 3 4 8 29  Georgia 1 0 3 4 30  Turkey 1 0 0 1 31  Belgium 0 2 5 7 32  Finland 0 2 4 6 33  Croatia 0 1 3 4 34  Latvia 0 1 2 3 35  Netherlands 0 0 3 3 36  Ireland 0 0 1 1  Switzerland 0 0 1 1  Yugoslavia 0 0 1 1 Totals (38 entries) 741 748 748 2,237

Para Canoe Medals (2017–2022) Para Canoe is a special category for athletes with disabilities. This table shows the medals won in Para Canoe events. Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total 1  Great Britain 13 11 9 33 2  Ukraine 11 5 4 20 3  Hungary 5 2 6 13 4  Italy 4 6 3 13 5  Germany 4 2 6 12 6  Russia 3 10 9 22 7  Austria 3 2 0 5 8  France 1 3 5 9 9  Poland 1 3 4 8 10  Spain 1 3 0 4 11  Portugal 1 0 2 3 12  Sweden 1 0 1 2 13  Ireland 1 0 0 1 14  Romania 0 2 0 2 Totals (14 entries) 49 49 49 147

Most Successful Athletes

This table lists some of the athletes who have won the most medals since the championships restarted in 1997 (up to 2021).

Rank	Athlete	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Katalin Kovács	29	17	2	48
2	Natasa Dusev-Janics	18	4	2	24
3	Ronald Rauhe	17	9	2	28
4	Danuta Kozák	17	8	1	26
5	Sebastian Brendel	15	5	2	22
6	Maxim Opalev	14	6	3	23
7	Martin Fuksa	13	6	3	22
8	Katrin Wagner-Augustin	12	11	5	28
9	Ivan Shtyl	12	6	1	19
10	Erik Vlček	11	7	4	22
11	Michal Riszdorfer	11	4	1	16
12	Tim Wieskötter	11	4	0	15
13	Tímea Paksy	10	10	2	22
14	Raman Piatrushenka	10	6	6	22
15	Vadzim Makhneu	10	6	5	21
16	/ Dalma Ružičić-Benedek	10	5	2	17
17	Max Hoff	10	4	3	17
18	Richard Riszdorfer	10	3	0	13
19	Szilvia Szabó	9	10	0	19
20	Viktor Melantyev	9	1	2	12
21	Kinga Bóta	8	8	1	17
22	Ákos Vereckei	8	6	0	14
23	Alexander Kostoglod	8	5	6	19
24	Tamara Csipes	8	5	1	14
25	Josefa Idem	8	4	3	15
26	Alexey Korovashkov	8	3	0	11
27	Nicole Reinhardt	8	2	2	12
28	Maryna Litvinchuk	7	7	5	19
29	Carolin Leonhardt	7	7	4	18
30	Zoltán Kammerer	7	7	2	16
31	Florin Popescu	7	7	1	15
32	Teresa Portela Rivas	7	4	6	17
33	Nikolai Lipkin	7	2	1	10
34	Eirik Verås Larsen	7	1	2	10
Totals (34 entries)		363	200	80	643

More About Canoe Sprint

• International Canoe Federation
• ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships
• European Canoe Slalom Championships
• European Canoe Marathon Championships

See also

In Spanish: Campeonato Europeo de Piragüismo en Aguas Tranquilas para niños