Hungary, which has the largest team with 50 athletes, had no problems in the first heats. The men's K4, with a defiant reaction, set the fastest time. Last year, at the European Games, which were considered the European Championships, they were left without a medal and far from the podium places. A result that was initially inexplicable, especially the large gap to the top boats from Germany and Spain. So now the Hungarians had got off to a good start at the home European Championships.

Things were looking good in the other disciplines too. Eszter Rendessy in the women's K1 1000 m, Balint Kopcaz in the men's K1 1000 m, as well as Anna Lucz in the women's and men's K1 200 m (men's 500 and 1000 meters), Tamara Csipes in the women's K1 500 m, they were all able to paddle the respective best times in their heats.

The medal candidates from other nations also did well in their heats. Fernando Pimenta from Portugal, who won the non-Olympic K1 500 m and K1 5000 meters as well as the 1,000-meter distance at the second World Cup of the season in Poznan, once again impressed with the best time in his heat.

In the C1 1000 m, it was Martin Fuska from the Czech Republic who had no problems qualifying for the next round. His path to Paris 2024 leads via an altitude training camp in Livigno and preparations at home in Nymburk.

In the women's race, the Polish women in particular were very strong in their heats. They were able to win a total of seven races. The Polish women's K4 won the first team boat gold medal since 1977 at the 2022 World Championships. In addition, there had not been a single defeat with this boat in 2022. They are among the favourites in Szeged and also in Paris 2024.

There were also preliminary rounds in para-canoeing, which, like the Canoe Sprint World Championships Duisburg 2023, is part of the official program. There were six preliminary rounds over the 200-meter distances in the KL3, VL2 and VL3 classes. Vladyslav Yepifanov (Ukraine), Stuart Wood (Great Britain), Abel Aber (France), Markus Swoboda (Austria), Mirko Nicoli (Italy) and Maik Polte (Germany) qualified for the final in VL3. In VL2, Robert Suba (Hungary) and Higinio Rivero (Spain) were the first finalists, joined by Andrii Kryvchun (Ukraine), Miroslav Sperk (Czech Republic), Norberto Mourao (Portugal) and Marius Ciustea (Italy). In the men's KL3 heats, Juan Valle (Spain), Jon Tarrant (Great Britain), Kwadzo Klokpah (Italy), Mateusz Surwilo (Poland), Ron Halevi (Israel) and Andrii Syvykh (Ukraine) made it straight into the A final.

For the first time, stand-up paddlers are also taking part in these championships. The first medals have already been awarded there. The first decisions also involved a 9-kilometer long distance.

In the open men's class, Manuell Hoyuela from Spain won in a time of 47:44.84 minutes. Silver went to Ole Schwarz from Germany, bronze to Christian Andersen (Denmark). It was a close race in the same class for the women, with Natalia Novitskaia, who started under a neutral flag, winning 3.49 seconds ahead of Reka Slekta from Hungary. Bronze for Kyriaki Logotheti from Greece.

The first title holder in the history of the European Championships for junior men is Zeno Szabo from Hungary. He beat Marlon Daskiran (Germany) and Nikolaos Malekakis (Greece). The winner of the junior women's category also comes from Hungary. Csillag Kocsis won gold ahead of Skadi Langbein (Germany) and Sveva Sabato (Italy). In the masters class, Geogrios Fragkos from Greece won the men's category. The title for masters women went to Vira Lemekha from Italy.