The first of seven canoe slalom races in Europe this summer.

John Gregory - @gregiej | Sportscene - The grand historic city of Krakow in Poland welcomes top paddlers to the 2013 ECA European Canoe Slalom Championships starting June 6th. These are important races for many European paddlers as they provide the first top level international race before the 5 race World Cup series that begins in Cardiff, Wales two weeks later. The 2013 ICF World Championships are also back in Eastern Europe on a revitalised Troja course, Prague in September.

The four day European championship event takes place on the Vistula river at the wonderful ten year old KOLNA centre, which previously hosted the 2008 European championships. Poland has a very strong history in canoe slalom being the 8th most successful nation in the European Championships and 12th in the World Championships. However, they have yet to secure an Olympic canoe slalom medal.  Sadly, the Polish London Olympic K1M Mateusz Polaczyk is absent while he is recovering from a shoulder injury. Krakow city major, Jacek Majchrowski describes the European Championships as an “important distinction to our city and great satisfaction to its citizens”. The President of the Polish Canoe Federation, Jozef Bejnarowicz describes it as a “new landmark for canoe slalom…considered one of the most modern [courses] in Europe”.

Teams for 24 European countries are planned to start, which includes many international paddlers who competed back in 2008. As always, there is a strong Eastern European contingent including the incredible 45 year old two-time Olympic champion Stepanka Hilgertova from the Czech Republic. The Slovakians are the most successful country in recent canoe slalom history and double Olympic champion Elena Kaliska will also be back in action. Follow countrymen and three time Olympic champions the Hochschorner’s won here in Krakow in 2008 and are seeking to avenge for their defeat in London by the British London Olympic Champions Tim Baillie & Etienne Stott who only reached the dizzy heights of 16th back in 2008.

The 1 boat per class rule for Olympic qualification means we have a much depleted filed at the Olympics and at these European Championships we will again have better representative of the top consistent paddlers in Europe. Only one non-European paddler won a medal at last year’s Olympics, namely Jessica Fox from Australia. In addition to Polaczyk, also absent is Maialen Chourraut, bronze medallist at the London Olympics as she is expecting her first child in 2-3 weeks. Good luck Maialen. The post-Olympic period also saw several retirements form competition by the likes of three time Olympic champion Tony Estanguet from France and Campbell Walsh from Great Britain.

I will be closely watching both Sideris Tasiadis C1M and Hannes Aigner K1M both from Germany to see whether they can improve upon their great form in London. Among the favourites in each class are the current Olympic Champions Daniele Molmenti and Emilie Fer as well as World Cup 2013 and individual reigning European champions from 2012.

The European Championships also include a Team event. The reigning team champions from 2012 Augsburg European championships were C1M Slovakia, C2 Great Britain, K1M France, K1W Germany and C1W Germany.

Thursday 6th June 2013
08.00-14.00 Training
16.30-17.00 Demonstration Runs
19.30 Opening Ceremony

Friday 7th June 2013
09.00-14.00 Qualification Runs C1W, C1M, K1M 1st & 2nd runs
15.00-19.00 Qualification Runs K1W, C2 1st and 2nd runs

Saturday 8th June 2013 - CHANGED PROGRAM www.sportscene.tv/liveresults
09.00-12.30 Semi-finals C1W, C1M, K1M
13.30-16.00 Finals C1W, C1M, K1M
16.30-19.10 Team Events C1M, C1W, K1M

Sunday 9th June 2013 - CHANGED PROGRAM www.sportscene.tv/liveresults
08.25 Forerunners
09.00-11.00 Semi-finals K1W, C2
13.30-16.00 Finals K1W, C2
16.30-19.10 Team Events K1W, C2

Competition will be tight for sure. There is much to play for as we enter the first of these 7 European races. We will bring you race day reviews and post-race analysis on the Sportscene website. Results will be posted at www.sportscene.tv/liveresults .

More information can be found on the competition website www.ecslalom.kayakpl.com.