Ben Haylett, Jonny Dickson and Sam Leaver became U23 team European Champions on the opening day of the U23 & Junior European Championships in Krakow, Poland.
A fantastic run from Sofia Alfer, Zoe Blythe-Shields and Arina Kontchakov secured the trio a junior women’s kayak silver to round off a successful day one of competition.
It was the U23 men’s kayak trio of Haylett (Holme Pierrepont), Dickson (CR Cats) and Leaver (Edinburgh Schools) who got the medals underway for Britain, winning their first European title.
Heading into the event as 2024 World team silver medallists from the championships last month, they showed their strength in the event once again.
Signalling their intent with a clean and fast time of 106.44 to top the standings, the trio guaranteed themselves a medal with two teams left to go.
With France and Spain unable to challenge the Brits, their European title was confirmed.
Haylett said: “I’m delighted to win the gold. It’s one that’s eluded us previously, silver last season. To do this is brilliant and we all pulled through to get this one over the line. It really shows the quality we have.
“We all trust each other on the course and believe in our skills. We’ve all finialled multiple times. We invest a lot of time in the course walks on the day to make sure we’re aware of what each of us does.”
Dickson added: “We’re very happy to come away with another team medal. We knew we had a good chance and feel we’ve delivered a solid run. A great final section and staying off the poles makes for a good afternoon.”
Leaver said: “This is a great start to the European Championships. We’ve got such a strong team again this year and that’s really showing in the team runs that we’ve been doing.”
In the final race of the day, Alfer (Wydean) Blythe-Shields (Lee Valley) and Kontchakov (Lee Valley) rounded off an impressive first day with silver in the women’s junior kayak team final.
Posting 129.03 with two touches both on gate 22, the trio had a nervous wait to see where they stacked up after occupying first place early on in the final.
A number of teams came and went without challenging the Brits’ fantastic time set, before an impressive run from the final team in Czechia of 123.39, confirmed the trio as European silver medallists.
The men’s junior kayak team of Jonah Hanrahan (Independent), Oscar Wyllie (Breadalbane) and Gwion Williams (Llandysul) were incredibly close to making it a hattrick of medals, but touches knocked them outside the top three as they placed fourth overall.
Ellis Miller (Lee Valley), Macy Kang (Holme Pierrepont) and Lois Leaver (Edinburgh Schools) combined in the U23 women’s kayak team final, finishing fifth and just three seconds off a medal themselves.
The successful morning session saw all 12 kayak Brits in heats action, with the full team securing their berth for Saturday’s semi-finals.
A standout run for the day from Zoe Blythe-Shields saw her top the standings in the junior women’s kayak heats.
Keeping her emphatic run clean, Blythe-Shields went over two seconds quicker than the rest of the field after posting 110.75 with nine paddlers still to go.
A number of the top ranked athletes couldn’t match the Lee Valley athletes’ performance, meaning Blythe-Shields will go into Saturday’s semi-finals as fastest qualifier.
Sofia Alfer joined her British teammate directly into the semi-finals after finishing 12th from run one.
Embarking on her first Junior European Championships, Alfer had some good pace on course, and despite three gate touches en route, she eased through the top 20 in a time of 120.51.
Arina Kontchakov required the second run to join her teammates in the next round, but eased through on second attempt.
Despite two touches, her time of 123.39 comfortably had her in the top ten that was need to qualify.
In their final year as U23 athletes, Jonny Dickson and Ben Haylett secured top ten finishes in the men’s kayak heats to secure a place in Saturday’s semi-final.
A 2023 World Cup silver medallist, Dickson was the highest-finishing Brit as he placed seventh to progress. The CR Cats athlete did take a touch on gate 16 during his run but still eased through in a time of 95.17.
Haylett was also incredibly quick on the Krakow course as he looked to join Dickson in the next round. Four seconds were added to his time, but his pace absorbed the penalties as he placed ninth in 96.68.
Sam Leaver made it three from three as he nicked the final qualification place during the first run.
The U23 Kayak Cross World Champion also hit two gates on his way to the finish line, but his time of 98.17 was enough to finish 20th and progress straight through.
2024 U23 World Champion Lois Leaver enjoyed a positive start to her European campaign as she took a top five finish in the women’s kayak.
Fresh from winning her first international medal last month, the Scottish athlete had a very quick first split as she chased the time of 105.99 set by Paulina Pirro. A solid final section of the course saw Leaver ease through in a time of 107.61
Leaver was closely followed by Ellis Miller who finished just one place behind her British teammate to qualify for Saturday’s semi-finals.
Off early in the heats, the Lee Valley paddler was on for an incredibly fast run as she clocked strong times at the first two splits. Miller did hit gate 24 which added two seconds, but still comfortably qualified in 108.62
Macy Kang completed the trio as her clean run earned her a place in the semi-finals.
Following Miller down the course, the Nottingham paddler put together a tidy and assured run, as she avoided all 25 gates to post a time of 111.60, placing her 11th overall.
Jonah Hanrahan was the top junior men’s kayak Brit of the heats as all three athletes booked their place for Saturday.
Chasing a time of 96.17, the 18-year-old kept his run clean to progress in a time of 98.19 initially slotting into second place, before ultimately resulting in sixth overall once a further 29 paddlers had competed the course
Hanrahan was closely followed by Gwion Williams, who also booked a top ten finish in his first junior European Champions
Williams kept run clean after a fast top section to post a final time of 100.57 and finish ninth overall.
In his third junior international season, Oscar Wyllie started strongly in his European campaign to finish 14th overall. His time of 103.49 did include a touch on gate 17 but the Scottish paddler had enough time spare to ease through the first round.
Canoe and kayak cross time-trials take to the course on Friday.