Fernando Pimenta competes in the first of three European Canoe Championships finals this Friday, seeking a podium finish in the K1 500m in Szeged, Hungary.
The Lima native, who competes in the K1 Olympic 1000m and 5000m deciders on Sunday, was one of three to achieve direct qualification, winning his series and reaching the final for the seventh time among nine competitors. .
The world champion and Olympic 1,000m bronze medalist will face Hungary’s Adam Varga, Tokyo 2020 silver winner, who was fastest in the 500m.
Also of note was the K2 200m final, in which Iago Bebiano, European Senior Championships debutant, teamed up with Kevin Santos, European K1 200m champion in 2022 and K2 200m mixed in 2023, the latter with Teresa Portela.
At the start of the European Championships on Thursday, the Portuguese team managed to secure five finals – a target that Iago Bebiano, Pedro Casinha, Gustavo Goncalves and Kevin Santos and K2 500m Gustavo failed to achieve. Home of Gonsalves and Pedro Little, the team that will have a new opportunity this morning.
This European canoeing competition is less well attended than usual, with around 500 athletes from 36 countries taking part.
The canoe sprint events at the Olympic Games will be held from August 6 to 10. Portugal will be represented by Fernando Pimenta in the K1 1000m, Joao Ribeiro and Messias Baptista in the K2 500m and Teresa Portela in the K1 500m.
Norberto Mourão (VL2) and Alex Santos (KL1) will once again fly the Portuguese flag at the Paralympic Games.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Dave Martin, and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. As a part of my work, I write for 24 News Reporters, covering mostly sports-related topics. With more than 5 years of experience as a journalist, I have written numerous articles on various topics to provide accurate information to readers.