Tom Hall | Sportscene - It goes without saying that non-Europeans scrutinize the Europeans Championships. For us sitting at home, it’s a look at how our competition has been doing since World Cups. It’s easily one of the biggest regattas of the year, and, unlike most World Cups, almost everyone from Europe competes.

But you can’t draw too many conclusions from it as a standalone event. Just like World Cups, one result is one result. It means someone had a good race that day. It doesn’t mean that they’re going to win the World Championships or the Olympics.

So, with the World Champs about one month away, what conclusions can we draw from the European Championships? Yes the Europeans are fast, but more specifically…

In men’s canoe, I wish I could’ve bet on the outcome of the C1-1000. It was no surprise that Brendel remains a force, as does Vajda. Maybe Fuksa’s result was the only surprise. I think we’ll see more of him come Worlds. And though I would never bet on a 200m race, there weren’t any big upsets in the C1 200 either. In the C2 1000 it’s not every day we see Germany off the podium, but at the same time to see Russia, Czech Republic and of course Hungary on the podium isn’t all that rare either. I’m looking forward to August when a dash of Canadian canoe talent (Mark Oldershaw in C1 and Ben Russell and Gabriel Beauchesne-sevigny in C2 and Ben Tardioli in his first World Championship appearance in the 200) will spice up the mix.

In women’s canoe the 48’’ by Stamenova is as quick as almost any women has gone, and though Laurence Vincent-Lapointe recently broke 47’’ at Canadian trials a few weeks ago, the rest of the women are getting that much closer. And like at last years U23 Worlds in Welland, Ontario in Canada, the technique of the Hungarian women in C2 is amazing and only getting stronger. 

In men’s kayak, there seemed to be almost no major upsets. It’s always good to see (relatively) younger athletes making their mark such as Marko and Aleh did winning top spot in the K1 200 and 1000 respectively, likewise the Czech K4 1000.  The German K2 1000 impressed like usual. While in the K2 200 Ronny Rauhe continued to cement his position as one of the best K2 paddlers of all time. The one result that made me do a double-take was the K4. Even though the K4 podium switched around throughout the World Cup circuit, and its no secret the World Cups are often used as selection and testing events, the Germans made the all the finals they showed up for, and in Racice finished 3 and 4. So what changes will be made come Russia? I’m curious to see what happens at Worlds when the Aussies are added to the mix.

In women’s kayak Sweden’s Stenisls’ sixth place in K1-200 was an impressive improvement on her B-final win in Szeged. And in the 500, it’s interesting that Kozak maintained her place at the top, while the other three women in the top four traded places. The almost 1.3 second space between third and the rest of the field in the K2 500 seems larger than it should be given the talent in the rest of the boats, likewise the Hungarian win in K4 is impressive.

Given the perennial battle between the Hungarian and German women, particularly in K4, I wonder if the relatively large gap between the Germans and Hungarians is an indication that the German team approached the competition more as part of training rather than something they were trying to win. (Looking at the men’s C2 and men’s K4 results the same question could be asked.)

And that is what’s odd about the European Championships, and even World Cups: no matter how much we analyze them, we never know until the big day who has poured everything they have into a given race. And that’s a fact that can be extended throughout a quadrennial as well. We know that in a post-Olympic year many of the best ease up their training, and their results throughout that year are probably not an indication of how fast they will be come the next Games.  So in a way, really this year’s World Championships will be a much more accurate indication of who’s going fast, and who will be favourites for the coveted Olympic qualification spots next season.

With the World Championships only a few weeks away I guess we’ll see soon enough.

Download all results: www.sportscene.tv/flatwater/canoe-sprint/result-archive