Reigning European Champions Anna Sletsjøe and James “Jimbo” Russell have just a few short days before they have to face the best in Europe to defend their 2025 titles. The 2026 European Marathon Championships start on Wednesday 24th June and continue until Sunday 28th June in Pitesti, Romania on the Pitesti-Bascov course.
Anna and James revisit the races they won this time last year to earn their titles, career bests in marathon racing for both paddlers, and share their strategies for how they’ll plan to defend their titles in Romania.
In the women’s K1 race, Anna will have tough competition but with the last minute realisation that Melina Andersson is not racing, Anna has a great shot at potentially winning her second title.
In the men’s K1 race, Mads Pedersen is racing and based on the form he’s shown in the 5k at recent sprint World Cups and European Sprint Championships, the crown may be his for the taking. But with the course being on a flat lake typically used for sprints, a strong group could make it hard for Mads to pull away as early and clearly as he did at Worlds in Gyor, Hungary last year. Jon Amund Vold’s performance in the 5k at European Sprint Championships the other day showed that it is possible to stick with Mads for at least 5k…
The event will begin with the exciting short course format and paracanoe races (men’s KL3 will be very hotly contested), and will also feature some great high kneel canoeing and age group racing. The Senior Women’s and Men’s K2 races will wrap things up on Sunday afternoon, and the men’s race in particular promises fierce competition and a re-match between the Danish crew of Mads Pedersen / Philip Knudsen versus the experienced Hungarian pair of Adrian Boros / Tamas Erdelyi.
Betsy will be in Romania covering the racing in-person, so be sure to follow along on the Paddle Daily social media accounts (Instagram and Facebook).
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