The 2024 ECA Canoe Sprint, Paracanoe, and SUP European Championships kicked off with stand-up paddling featuring prominently on the opening day. Competitors vied for spots in the technical race finals in both men's and women's categories. Spanish paddler Manuel Hoyuela and Greek athlete Kyriaki Logotheti emerged as top contenders in the semifinals.

Later in the day, the focus shifted to the sprint event, where athletes battled for places in the A finals. Notable performances came from Greek competitor Kyriaki Logotheti and Natalia Novitskaia, ensuring their spots in the finals alongside athletes from Italy, Hungary, Germany, Czechia, Poland, and individual neutral athletes.

The upcoming schedule includes men’s K4 500m heats in canoe sprinting and various distances in paracanoeing, along with SUP long-distance races, promising further excitement in the championships. Noemi Horvath, ECA SUP Technical Delegate and organiser of the 2024 ECA Canoe Sprint, Paracanoe, and SUP European Championships in Szeged, shared insights on the event.

"We wanted to make a multidiscipline event and welcome SUP paddlers here as well. I really hope they enjoy this. This facility and this water are a bit different for them, because they are not used to this kind of water. From what I heard from them they enjoy being here and I hope they will have good competition here.

"For the first SUP European Championships I think exceeding the 20 countries is very good number, we have more than 20 countries here, more than 100 athletes, which I think is very good for the future. Of course, we can improve, but for the first time I think it is really good." 

Horvath also outlined and detailed what SUP exactly is for those who are not familiar. "Technical race is the most typical day of paddling the SUP, the paddlers race 1000 metres long race course and they turn around five turning buoys, left and right turning points as well, which makes the race very interesting and exciting, because anything can happen until the very last metres," she said.

"This is the most special discipline. Then we will have sprint. Sprint is the same as in canoe sprint, they paddle 200 metres in a straight line, and then we have the long distance, which is nine kilometres long on the same race course. They will paddle four laps. 

"And the fourth one is the inflatable race, more like a fun race, it is open for everyone who paddle SUP for recreational reason. We welcome everyone from the continent, can join us for this Stand Up paddling festival," Horvath added.

The A finals of the 2024 ECA Canoe Sprint, Paracanoe, and SUP European Championships from Friday through Sunday will be exclusively streamed online on the Eurovision Sport platform at www.eurovisionsport.com.