GB’s canoe sprint and paracanoe team bagged three A Final spots on day two of the European Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe Championships in Račice.
The women’s K4 500m crew of Emily Lewis, Deborah Kerr, Emma Russell and Zoe Clark put yesterday’s disappointment behind them to battle it out for a top three spot.
After being seeded in a more competitive heat yesterday, the women came out fighting under the blazing Račice sun with a top three position needed to continue their Euros campaign.
And fight they did, chasing the German quartet and finishing just 0.06 seconds down in second place, booking an A Final spot for the second time this season – and the first senior A Final in an Olympic event for Zoe Clark.
Having been disappointed after the heats yesterday, the team were delighted with the delivery of today’s race.
Kerr said: “We were a lot more aggressive. Yesterday, maybe it was nerves, but today we had a bit more oomph especially in the transition as we settled into our race pace.
“We’ve worked really hard on race pace intensity and we deserved to go and show how much we can push and we did that today.”
Clark added: “We’re so happy with that. To make the A final is amazing, but do it by delivering a much better race than yesterday shows that we’re able to take those learnings from one to another and build on what we’ve done.
“It’s reassuring that we’re getting better with each session and I’m super happy to have qualified for my first senior final in an Olympic event, especially in that style of racing – we earned it.
“In the last few metres we really pushed it, the boat was coming apart, but we didn’t and we held it together as a team with drive and commitment.”
The K4 success buoyed Emma Russell on for her K1 500m semi-final this afternoon.
Speaking after the K4 she said: “It felt a lot better than yesterday, it felt like we really attacked it and went for it – we really wanted to make that final.
“I’ll hopefully take the momentum from this into the individual semi-finals later today.
“Doing the K4 and being exposed to the speed and higher stroke rate really sets me up well for the K1.”
And set her up it did. Fifth at the halfway point, Emma powered through the final 50m to finish in third – and qualify for her first individual senior A final.
About the K4 Lewis said: “It was a good race – it felt good, we felt powerful and connected and every 50m we were digging deeper into the finish line.
“We want to attack the semi-final of K2 the same way we attacked the K4. It’s hard to go from one race that you’re not happy with to another later but that strong race today will make it easier.”
Sadly, it was seventh place for the pair, and they will finish in 13th place overall.
Lindsay Thorpe finished strongly in the semi-final of the women’s KL3, to overcome Germany’s Claudia Fischer in the latter stages.
She finished in third to qualify for the A final on Sunday.
Tom Lambert had two races today, competing in both the 1000m and 500m C1 semi finals.
A strong second half saw him finish in fifth place in the 1000m and seventh in the 500m.
Finally, Beth Gill was fourth in the semi-final of the C1 200m but just missed the A Final.
The racing continues tomorrow with GB athletes in six A Finals.
The schedule and live results can be found here:
Or to watch the racing, the Livestreaming will be free of charge during all four competition days.
- Saturday & Sunday finals will be streamed on the Olympic Channel, where free registration is required to view the races.
How to watch on the Olympic Channel:
- Visit https://www.olympics.com/en/olympic-channel
- Find the 2025 ECA Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe European Championships in the “Live” section and click the link
- Register for free to access the livestream. Once you complete the registration, you will be able to enjoy all the coverage.
Useful links
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