Britain added a gold and two bronze to their medal haul on a successful day two of the junior and U23 slalom European Championships in Krakow, Poland.
Luc Royle, Kurts Adams Rozentals and Ed McDonald kicked off the podium success with bronze in the U23 men’s canoe team final.
Lois Leaver then added an individual U23 kayak cross European title to her name, whilst Jonah Hanrahan won bronze in the junior men’s event.
The success takes the British team to five medals halfway through the Championships.
After winning her first individual medal last month, becoming U23 World Champion in the women’s kayak, Lois Leaver (Edinburgh Schools) achieved further medal success as she triumphed in the women’s kayak cross time-trials this evening.
Seeded third for the individual event, Leaver powered down the kayak cross course to cross the line in emphatic 69.48 to top the standings.
Knowing she was guaranteed a medal, she had the wait to see which colour as Kneblova (Czechia) and Vuitton (France) followed.
Neither could go sub 70 seconds to confirm the Scottish athletes’ second gold medal of the season.
She said:
“I’m delighted to win gold. I feel like I’ve put loads of work into the kayak cross over the winter. It’s come on so much so feels really good to have paid off now.
“I’m sky-high right now. A lot of work has come into this success with my coach Ciaran and the training group. It’s been great to train with them and feeling really confident right now.
“I find it useful training with Jonny Dickson. Getting to see how he does things is so helpful to my runs too. Ciaran and I have worked together for a few years now and it’s really showing the success on the water.
“I put a lot of emphasis on putting down what I know I’m capable of. If I keep doing that the results will take care of themselves.”
Coming into the event with a head-to-head junior World bronze medal last month, Jonah Hanrahan (Independent) looked sharp in his time-trial.
The 18-year-old stormed his run to go over 2 seconds clear at the top with nine paddlers still to go.
Also with a nervous wait to see where he stacked up, only two competitors could beat his time of 66.45, which confirmed a second bronze of the season for the junior athlete.
He said:
“I feel lucky things went my way there after a nervous wait to see if I medalled. I managed to find composure after a difficult first up, paddling hard until the end.”
Luc Royle (Stafford & Stone), Kurts Adams Rozentals (Stafford & Stone) and Ed McDonald (Holme Pierrepont) were first to step on the podium on day two after a third place finish in the U23 men’s canoe team final.
Going off last in the final, the team headed out with the confidence of continuing the team medal success.
With the trio knowing they had to beat Italy’s time of 118.36 to win a medal, they refocused after clipping the first gate to deliver a solid run which was well within medal contention.
And despite another penalty picked up late on 23, they all powered across the finish line in 117.06 to confirm a third-place finish and the third team medal of the Championships.
Delighted with their performance, Rozentals said:
“I’m really pleased. It’s a new team to who I’ve raced alongside in the last few seasons. We communicated well, knew each others’ strengths, and put together a plan which we executed well.
Royle added:
“Yeah I’m really happy with that today. It’s great to get my first international championship medal.
“Pleased to get my first U23 medal with team and a great way to kick off my U23 career,” McDonald concluded.
Just two seconds separated the Lee Valley trio of Arina Kontchakov, Zoe Blythe-Shields and Darcey McMullins from a junior canoe team medal, as they finished fourth overall.
It was a similar story for Ellis Miller (Lee Valley), Joanna Blythe-Shields (Lee Valley) and Rachel Ellis (Lee Valley) who also sat on the bubble of a medal in the U23 women’s canoe.
Their final time of 147.44 placed them fourth overall.
The junior men’s canoe trio of Will Kettle (Lee Valley), Isaac Wright (Stafford & Stone) and Lewis Arden (Manvers) finished sixth in their team final.
To conclude a substantial day of racing on the Krakow course, all 12 kayak cross athletes were in time-trials action they looked to qualify their place in Sunday afternoon’s head to head rounds.
Ben Haylett (Holme Pierrepont) was incredibly close to winning a first international individual medal.
The Derbyshire paddler put down a fantastic run of 65.09 which sat him inside the top three for some time. Sadly for the Brit, Anatole Delassus snuck in ahead as the final padder, with Haylett 0.16 off the podium.
2023 U23 World bronze medallist Jonny Dickson (CR Cats) finished in 7th, whilst last year’s World Champion Sam Leaver (Edinburgh Schools) was a place behind in 8th.
In the Junior men’s kayak cross time-trials, Gwion Williams (Llandysul) confirmed his place alongside Hanrahan for the latter stages with a 12th place finish in 69.84.
Sadly for Oscar Wyllie (Breadalbane), he missed out in 27th.
Ellis Miller and Macy Kang (Holme Pierrepont) ensured they joined Leaver in the U23 women’s head to head racing, finishing 10th and 11th respectively.
In the women’s junior kayak cross, Arina Kontchakov was the top finishing Brit, placing 9th overall with a time of 75.64.
Sadly for Sofia Alfer (Wydean) and Darcey McMullins, the pair missed out on qualification in 18th and 24th.
In the individual canoe slalom heats, all 12 Brits made their way into the semi-finals on Sunday morning, meaning every Brit will compete again at the weekend after a full house of success in yesterday’s kayak heats.
After winning U23 World silver on this very course last season, Kurts Adams Rozentals got the Stafford & Stone athlete off to an impressive start in his U23 men’s canoe campaign.
Securing a top-three finish this morning, Rozentals impressed once again as he went sub 100 seconds and posted a clean run to qualify through with ease.
Late touches from Luc Royle pushed the Stafford & Stone paddler down the heats standings, but the 21-year-old still comfortably within the top 20 required.
After a strong U23 World Champs where he just missed out on a medal, Luc showed some good pace at the top section. He did lose a bit of time towards the end of his run, but still went through in 14th.
Ed McDonald made it three from three as he qualified for Sunday in 17th place. Early on in the heats, the Nottingham paddler went top of the standings initially despite a two-second touch on gate 7.
It wasn’t long until McDonald knew his qualification fate as his time of 109.77 eased him through.
After qualification in the kayak yesterday, Ellis Miller showed her pace once again on the Krakow course to progress through the U23 women’s canoe heats.
She was within the top splits at the top and middle sections of the course, before lost time on two penalties in the final moments pushed her down to 14th in 122.76.
Joanna Blythe-Shields too secured a top 20 finish as she placed 16th overall. The Lee Valley paddler added six seconds to her time throughout, but her speed absorbed the errors to secure her place for Sunday.
Rachel Ellis will too contest Sunday’s semi-finals. With all 27 athletes progressing, Ellis will have a second opportunity in the next stage, finishing 25th overall after picking up 5 gate touches en route.
After her kayak qualification yesterday, Arina Kontchakov secured a top 10 finish in the junior canoe heats.
Despite three touches on the final six gates, Kontchakov had done the hard work in the top sections to absorb the errors and progress through in ninth.
Darcey McMullins too enjoyed a positive start. She placed 12th during the first run as she clocked 131.43 which included four seconds of penalties and will line up in her first European semi-final.
Topping the kayak heats yesterday, Zoe Blythe-Shields will feature in her second semi-final of the weekend after finishing 20th to qualify through.
She lost a bit of time on the course including six seconds added on, but had enough on course to progress.
The men’s junior canoe trio all required second runs to book their place in Sunday’s racing.
Will Kettle (Lee Valley) was the top-finishing Brit of the round.
Sitting on the bubble of qualification during run 1, Kettle fell just outside in 21st, but made up for it on run 2 to qualify in fourth place in 110.37.
After a missed gate in run 1, Isaac Wright too booked his place with a solid performance. His time of 114.86 including a touch on gate 8, saw him progress in seventh.
Lewis Arden ensured all 12 Brits were into Sunday after finishing in ninth during this second run. Despite 3 gate touches, his time of 118.36 positioned him within the top 10 required.
A full round up of results can be found here