Polish U23 Canoe Sprint Championships 2026: Results from Poznań
- Published
- 2026-08-10T12:24:46+00:00
The 41st Polish U23 Canoe Sprint Championships closed in Poznań on 9 August 2026, and the loudest result of three days on the Malta course belonged to Alex Borucki — three gold medals, headlined by a 3:47.53 in the men's K1 over 1000 m. Twenty-five titles were decided across 92 races, contested by 176 athletes from 31 clubs.
The regatta proved far less predictable than the forecast suggested. Of the eleven single-boat favourites named in our championship preview, five converted. Six events went to somebody else — and two of them to a paddler who had not been the first pick in either.
Polish U23 Championships 2026 medal table
Twenty-five events produced 26 golds, 24 silvers and 25 bronzes. There is one gold more than there are titles because the women's K2 over 200 m ended in a dead heat.
| Club | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KST Włókniarz Chełmża | 4 | 5 | 5 | 14 |
| KS Posnania Poznań | 4 | 2 | 5 | 11 |
| KS AZS-AWF Poznań | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
| UKS Kopernik Bydgoszcz | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| KKW 1929 Kraków | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Włókniarz Chełmża's fourteen medals are both the largest haul of the regatta and the most concentrated: the club entered ten U23 athletes and came away with more medals than it had bodies on the water. CWZS Zawisza Bydgoszcz, by contrast, brought nineteen athletes to Malta and left with five.
The hosts made the most of home water. Four Poznań clubs — Posnania, AZS-AWF, KS Energetyk Poznań and KS Warta Poznań — took nine of the 26 golds between them, more than a third of everything on offer. In Friday's sprint block and Sunday's 500 m finals they were racing on the stretch of water they train on all year.
Alex Borucki and Weronika Marczewska both take three
Two athletes won three titles apiece, and both arrived in Poznań with U23 world championship medals from Halifax in their luggage.
Alex Borucki of KKW 1929 Kraków entered the single only over 1000 m — a secondary distance for him — and won it in 3:47.53, 1.68 seconds clear of Mikołaj Kot of UKS Silvant Kajak Elbląg. His second gold came in the mixed K2 over 200 m alongside Joanna Kurpan: 35.52, with just 0.15 to spare over the Energetyk crew. The third arrived in the mixed K4 over 500 m, where the Kraków quartet of Borucka, Kurpan, Borucki and Marcel Meus won by 1.86 seconds. The 20-year-old closes 2026 with six golds against a single silver; a year earlier the split was four and three.
Weronika Marczewska of UKS Kopernik Bydgoszcz matched him on the women's side and added a bronze. She won the K1 over 1000 m (4:21.06, 2.29 clear of Maja Łuczak), the K2 over 500 m with Martyna Jaskólska — the same partner she won the U23 world title with — and the K4 over 500 m. In the 200 m K2 the pair finished third, 0.25 behind two crews that could not be separated. Marczewska now has nine golds this season, more than anyone else in the field.
The biggest medal counts, though, belong elsewhere. Zofia Więcławska of Włókniarz and Amelia Sołtyńska of Posnania each collected five medals in an identical shape: one gold, two silvers, two bronzes. Sołtyńska's title came in the women's C1 over 200 m in 48.43 — an event the forecast had handed to somebody else — while Więcławska's came in that dead-heated 200 m K2.
Sieradzan falls one short, Walulik doubles up
Kacper Sieradzan of KS Wiskord Szczecin, the reigning U23 world champion from Halifax, came in as the only athlete favoured across all three distances in his boat. He converted two: the C1 over 500 m in 1:58.54 and the C1 over 1000 m in 4:14.87, both by close to two seconds over Gracjan Michalak.
The short one got away from him on Friday. Juliusz Kitewski of CWZS Zawisza Bydgoszcz won the C1 over 200 m in 40.15, leaving Sieradzan 1.08 seconds adrift. It was Kitewski's fourth gold of the season and the best championship of a career in which silvers still outnumber golds, ten to eight — he added another of them two days later, losing the C2 over 500 m by five hundredths.
In kayak, the double went to Mikołaj Walulik of KS Posnania Poznań. He won the K1 over 200 m in 35.96 and the K1 over 500 m in 1:43.65 — the two events widely seen as the most open of the regatta, neither with a favourite rated above the low teens in percentage terms. Mateusz Kubalski of KS GPower Gorzów was second in both, by 0.54 and 0.71. Third over 500 m was Kacper Jastrząb of UMKS Zryw Wolsztyn, a paddler who came in with the fastest season time in the event and a career record of one gold against five silvers and five bronzes.
Maja Łuczak of Włókniarz deserves a line of her own. She won the K1 over 500 m in 2:00.93 and added three silvers — and that title is only the second gold of a career already holding eight silver medals.
Races decided in hundredths
The standard of the crew boats was exceptional. Five finals were settled inside four tenths of a second.
| Event | Winners | Time | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Women's K2 200 m | Maja Juchno, Dominika Zimnoch — and Zuzanna Błażejczak, Zofia Więcławska | 0:39.25 | dead heat |
| Men's K2 500 m | Stanisław Czarnecki, Franek Mularczyk | 1:36.94 | 0.03 s |
| Men's C2 500 m | Piotr Kujawa, Gracjan Michalak | 1:54.31 | 0.05 s |
| Mixed K2 200 m | Joanna Kurpan, Alex Borucki | 0:35.52 | 0.15 s |
| Men's K4 1000 m | Jakub Szorcz, Józef Kubiak, Maksym Menchynskyi, Wiktor Napierała | 3:15.34 | 0.26 s |
A shared national title is a rarity in Polish canoe sprint, and the women's 200 m K2 produced one: Maja Juchno and Dominika Zimnoch of Dojlidy Białystok Canoe & Kajak Team and Zuzanna Błażejczak and Zofia Więcławska of Włókniarz both stopped the clock on 39.25. Jaskólska and Marczewska took third in 39.50.
The tightest single race was the men's K2 over 500 m, where the top three finished within 0.07 of one another: Czarnecki and Mularczyk of AZS-AWF Poznań in 1:36.94, Jarosław Kajdanek and Kuba Wojciechowski of Energetyk in 1:36.97, and Tomasz Burko with Norbert Midloch of KS Admira Gorzów in 1:37.01.
The canoe was barely calmer. Kujawa and Michalak of AZS-AWF won the C2 over 500 m in 1:54.31, five hundredths ahead of the Zawisza pair Eryk Baczyński and Kitewski.
The 2007-born generation takes over
The birth-year breakdown says more about these championships than the club table does. Athletes born in 2007 stood on the podium 35 times and those born in 2006 thirty times; the oldest years in the category fall well behind, with 23 medals for 2003 and just thirteen for 2005.
Gold tells the same story. Ten titles went to the class of 2007, ten to 2006 and ten to 2004, while 2003 and 2005 managed thirteen between them. The U23 category in Poland is no longer the preserve of those about to leave it.
The most striking group is the youngest. Eight golds went to athletes born in 2008 and 2009 — juniors by age, racing a category up. Leonid Liuliaiev and Maksym Menchynskyi, both born in 2009, were in the Energetyk quartets that won the 500 m and 1000 m K4. Maja Górska, born in 2008, twice topped the podium in canoe alongside Jagoda Stodulska. Milena Włodarczyk and Amelia Wiśniewska, both from 2009, sat in Kopernik's winning K4. For the clubs that built an advantage in Poznań, that is the weekend's most useful information: their best crews do not break up after this season.
Paracanoe: four titles on Saturday
The 15th Polish Paracanoe Championships ran alongside on the same course — four events, all decided on Saturday 8 August. Mateusz Surwiło of ZSR Start Zielona Góra won the KL1-3 over 200 m in 41.94, 5.66 clear of Katarzyna Sobczak of WZSN Start Wrocław. Robert Wydera, also of the Wrocław club, took the VL1-3 title.
Justyna Regucka of Dojlidy Białystok won the KKT1 in 1:25.98, and the T2 over 500 m went to Izabela Pycia of UKS Victoria Wałcz and Sara Rogowska of KS Spójnia Warszawa in 3:28.13.
What's next: the world championships on the same water
In three weeks Malta hosts the ICF Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Championships, from 26 to 30 August. For Borucki, selected for the K1 over 500 m, the Poznań weekend was a last domestic run-out before racing the same stretch in world-class company; the Polish selection is covered in full in our piece on Poland's men's kayak squad, and the schedule and contenders in the Poznań world championships guide.
The domestic calendar still holds the Polish Canoe Marathon Championships in September and the 36th Leon Grabowski Memorial on 6 September. For most of this field, though, the flatwater season ends in Poznań — and the next U23 championships will come round only once several of this weekend's medallists have aged into the senior ranks.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won the 2026 Polish U23 Canoe Sprint Championships?
Alex Borucki of KKW 1929 Kraków and Weronika Marczewska of UKS Kopernik Bydgoszcz led the way with three gold medals each. Zofia Więcławska of KST Włókniarz Chełmża and Amelia Sołtyńska of KS Posnania Poznań took the largest hauls — five medals apiece, one gold, two silvers and two bronzes.
Which club won the most medals in Poznań?
KST Włókniarz Chełmża, with four golds, five silvers and five bronzes for fourteen in total. KS Posnania Poznań was second with eleven, KS AZS-AWF Poznań third with nine.
What was the fastest time of the championships?
The quickest final of all was the mixed K2 over 200 m, won by Joanna Kurpan and Alex Borucki in 35.52. The fastest single boat was Mikołaj Walulik's 35.96 over the same distance, and the fastest 500 m belonged to the KS Energetyk Poznań K4 of Jarosław Kajdanek, Leonid Liuliaiev, Kuba Wojciechowski and Jakub Szorcz in 1:27.65.
Did the pre-championship forecast hold up?
Only halfway. Five of the eleven single-boat favourites won: Sieradzan over 500 m and 1000 m, Borucki over 1000 m, Zimnoch over 200 m and Marczewska over 1000 m. The other six went elsewhere, two of them to Mikołaj Walulik, rated only the fourth pick over 500 m.
Is Włókniarz Chełmża the most efficient club in Polish U23 canoeing?
The maths says yes. Chełmża took 14 medals with ten athletes — 1.4 per starter. KS Posnania Poznań managed 11 from 19 (0.58) and KS AZS-AWF Poznań 9 from 22 (0.41). Włókniarz is better than twice as effective as clubs that fielded squads twice the size.
Does Mikołaj Kot have a problem closing races?
It is the most uncomfortable statistic of the regatta. The Silvant Elbląg paddler left Poznań with two silvers and a bronze — and a career record of thirteen domestic medals without a single gold. He lost the K1 over 1000 m to Borucki by 1.68 seconds, the K4 over 500 m by 1.79 and the K4 over 1000 m by 1.29. Three times he was as close to a national title as he has ever been, and three times the same thing was missing: something extra over the closing 200 metres.
Did the hosts make their home course count?
Emphatically. Poznań clubs won nine of the 26 golds and filled three of the top five places in the medal table. KS Posnania Poznań won four events, KS AZS-AWF Poznań three and KS Energetyk Poznań two, including the fastest race of the weekend.
Where can I find the full results?
Complete results for all 92 U23 races, along with start lists and finals, are on the event page for the 41st Polish U23 Championships, 25th Polish Youth Championships and 15th Polish Paracanoe Championships, which also carries the youth and paracanoe results from the same weekend.
Poznań caught a generation mid-crossing: Alex Borucki and Weronika Marczewska head to the world championships with international records behind them, and behind those two sits a group for whom Malta was a first serious national title. In three weeks the same water will be timing world champions — and much of this field will be watching from the bank, knowing to the second how far away that is.
Sources: Polish Canoe Federation final bulletin, official regatta results, International Canoe Federation calendar.