Polish Youth Canoe Sprint Championships 2026: Results from Poznań
- Published
- 2026-08-10T12:24:46+00:00
The 25th Polish Youth Canoe Sprint Championships finished in Poznań on 9 August 2026, and the most telling result of four days on the Malta course came from Piotr Kupś: he won the C1 over 1000 m in the 2013–2014 age group in 4:35.14 — faster than the champion of the older group went. Twenty titles were decided, with 418 athletes from 58 clubs on the entry list.
This was the largest part of the Poznań weekend — more than twice as many youth athletes as U23 competitors — and the most unforgiving, with 2000 m finals run in fields of up to 33 boats off a single start. And the top of the medal table is occupied by clubs Polish senior canoeing barely sees.
Polish Youth Championships 2026 medal table
Twenty events produced twenty medals of each colour. Six clubs won two titles or more.
| Club | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KS GPower Gorzów | 4 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| KS AZS-AWF Gorzów | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| UKS Włókniarz Chełmża | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| AKS Sparta Augustów | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| KKS Nowa Sól | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| MMKS Gdańskie Lwy | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
KS GPower Gorzów's six medals are the biggest haul of the championships, and the club managed it with a squad of seven — very nearly a medal per athlete, comfortably the best conversion rate of the regatta.
Gorzów wins more than a third of the titles
Three clubs from one city took seven of the twenty golds. KS GPower Gorzów won four events, KS AZS-AWF Gorzów two and KS Admira Gorzów one. No other city came close: Gdańsk is second on three titles, with Poznań, Bydgoszcz and Chełmża on two apiece.
The foundation of that advantage is one age group and one distance. Artem Danilov won the men's K1 over 2000 m in the 2012 group in 9:11.11, 3.75 seconds ahead of club-mate Piotr Klisiewicz; two days later the pair sat in the same boat and won the K2 by 16.97 seconds from AKS Sparta Augustów. Aleksandra Głogowska ran the identical script on the women's side: first the K1 over 2000 m (9:12.23, winning by 10.96), then the K2 with Aleksandra Kubalska in 9:03.96, 6.82 clear of the next crew.
Add two canoe golds for KS AZS-AWF Gorzów, both won by Nikola Maćkowiak, and the KS Admira Gorzów quartet's win in the women's K4 over 2000 m. The contrast with the biggest squads is stark: CWZS Zawisza Bydgoszcz entered 29 youth athletes and won nothing, UKS Zalew Jerzykowo took sixteen and left without a medal, and Dojlidy Białystok Canoe & Kajak Team turned fourteen entries into four bronzes.
Six double champions
Six athletes won two titles in Poznań — three in kayak, three in canoe.
Alongside Danilov and Głogowska, Lena Karbowska of AKS Sparta Augustów completed a double from the 2013 year group. She won the K1 over 2000 m in the younger category and the K2 over the same distance with Oliwia Garbacz in 9:33.06 — and her individual win was the narrowest of the whole championships.
In canoe the doubles went to Barbara Maczkowska of MMKS Gdańskie Lwy, Ivan Baszak of UKS Włókniarz Chełmża and Maćkowiak. Maczkowska won the C1 over 1000 m in 5:38.38, by 17.47 seconds, and the C2 with Jagoda Antoniak in 5:01.60, 12.76 clear of WTS Orzeł Wałcz. Baszak and Igor Nowaczyk turned the Chełmża canoe into the strongest boat of the regatta: first they went one-two in the single (4:42.72 and 4:46.11), then won the double in 4:41.95 — quicker than the winning time in the single.
Piotr Kupś of KS AZS-AWF Poznań stands apart. Born in 2013, he won the C1 over 1000 m in the younger category by 44.58 seconds over Filip Fiszer — the largest margin of the championships. His 4:35.14 is also 7.58 seconds quicker than the time Baszak needed to win the same event in the older group. Kupś has four golds in 2026 and no medal of any other colour.
Four tenths of a second after two kilometres
Long-distance racing has a reputation for being decided in minutes. In Poznań it declined to behave that way wherever it mattered most.
| Event | Winners | Time | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Women's K1 2000 m (2013–2014) | Lena Karbowska | 10:01.09 | 0.38 s |
| Women's K4 2000 m | Matylda Hermanowicz, Emilia Kotlarek, Lena Krajewska, Roksana Lankamer | 8:14.02 | 1.24 s |
| Men's K2 2000 m (2013–2014) | Jan Wyrwicz, Alexei Kartashevich | 8:13.72 | 1.50 s |
| Men's C2 1000 m | Igor Nowaczyk, Ivan Baszak | 4:41.95 | 1.77 s |
| Women's C4 1000 m | Karolina Diachenko, Oliwia Gackowska, Klaudia Sochaczewska, Alina Vasylchenko | 4:38.51 | 1.85 s |
The thirty-boat women's K1 final in the younger group came down to thirty-eight hundredths: Karbowska in 10:01.09, Aleksandra Kubalska in 10:01.47, with third-placed Sofia Los of UKS Olimp Kraków already 15.94 behind. Two kilometres of racing separated the top two by less than a bow.
The women's K4 was scarcely calmer, with the first three crews inside 1.38 seconds: KS Admira Gorzów, UKS Olimpijczyk Nowe Chechło and CWZS Zawisza Bydgoszcz.
The sharpest twist came in the younger men's K2 over 2000 m. Danil Babaievskyi and Julian Jeziorek of KKS Nowa Sól, who had finished one-two in the single the day before, raced together in the double and were disqualified. The title went instead to Jan Wyrwicz and Alexei Kartashevich of UKS Motława Gdańsk — that club's only gold of the weekend.
What the youth category is, and why it races 2000 m
The youth category in Polish canoeing covers three birth years; in 2026 those were 2012, 2013 and 2014. The programme splits them two ways: some events are run separately for 2012 and for 2013–2014, while others are open to the whole category, which puts the younger athletes on the water against rivals a year or two older.
The distances are different from those the older categories race. Kayakers cover 2000 m in singles, doubles and quads, and canoeists 1000 m in the same boat classes. The inversion is deliberate: senior and U23 championships are decided over 200, 500 and 1000 m, but a young athlete's first serious national race is an endurance event. The sprint comes later, once there is an engine to build it on.
That format also shapes how the races are run. A 2000 m final is not held in a field of eight or nine lanes: in Poznań the women's K1 for the 2012 group started 33 boats, and several other events started thirty. Athletes do not hold their own lane for the whole distance, so on top of raw speed the race rewards positioning in a pack, holding rhythm in traffic and picking the moment to move — none of which a short lane race teaches.
The split of medals between birth years shows how much a single year is worth at this age. The 2012 group took 24 golds, the 2013 group thirteen and the 2014 group three. Across all colours, 2012 reached the podium 65 times, 2013 forty-three times and 2014 twelve.
All three golds won by 2014-born athletes came in crew boats, where an older partner carries the pace. Ksawery Lawrence Drojetzki won the C2 over 1000 m with Wojciech Trojanowski from the 2013 group in 5:38.65, Malwina Budnik sat in the winning double with Nikola Maćkowiak in 5:29.88, and Matylda Hermanowicz was part of the KS Admira Gorzów quartet that won the K4 over 2000 m. No 2014-born athlete won a single boat — which, in this category, is the norm rather than a failing.
Paracanoe: four titles on Saturday
The third championship on the Malta course that weekend was the 15th Polish Paracanoe Championships — four events, all decided on Saturday 8 August. The titles went to Mateusz Surwiło of ZSR Start Zielona Góra in the KL1-3 over 200 m (41.94), Robert Wydera of WZSN Start Wrocław in the VL1-3, Justyna Regucka of Dojlidy Białystok in the KKT1 (1:25.98), and Izabela Pycia of UKS Victoria Wałcz with Sara Rogowska of KS Spójnia Warszawa in the T2 over 500 m (3:28.13).
What's next for the youth category
The season does not end in Poznań. September brings the inter-voivodeship youth championships in three zones: Zone E on 12 September, then Zone B and Zone D on 26 September. For the youngest, born in 2014, that is the first full round of the 2026/2027 ranking.
The same month holds the 36th Leon Grabowski Memorial on 6 September and the Dziecięca Wstęga Odry on 27 September. The next step up for the 2012 group is the junior national championships, whose 2026 edition in Bydgoszcz we covered in the OOM and MPJ medal table.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won the 2026 Polish Youth Canoe Sprint Championships?
Six athletes won two titles each: Artem Danilov and Aleksandra Głogowska of KS GPower Gorzów, Lena Karbowska of AKS Sparta Augustów, Barbara Maczkowska of MMKS Gdańskie Lwy, Ivan Baszak of UKS Włókniarz Chełmża and Nikola Maćkowiak of KS AZS-AWF Gorzów. Nobody won three.
Which club took the most medals?
KS GPower Gorzów, with four golds and two silvers for six in total, from a squad of just seven entries. KS AZS-AWF Gorzów and UKS Włókniarz Chełmża follow on five each.
What distances do youth athletes race?
Kayakers race 2000 m in singles, doubles and quads; canoeists race 1000 m in the same boat classes. Both are longer than the 200, 500 and 1000 m used in the older categories.
Is Gorzów Wielkopolski the new centre of Polish youth canoeing?
The numbers leave little room for argument: three Gorzów clubs took seven of the twenty golds, more than a third of the titles on offer. KS GPower won four events, KS AZS-AWF Gorzów two and KS Admira Gorzów one. Gdańsk is next with three titles, then Poznań, Bydgoszcz and Chełmża with two apiece.
Did CWZS Zawisza Bydgoszcz underperform with the biggest squad?
The Bydgoszcz club entered 29 youth athletes, more than anyone else, and won three medals: silver in the 2012 women's K2 over 2000 m (Marcelina and Maria Michańczyk) and two bronzes in quads. No golds. KS GPower Gorzów won four events with seven athletes. In this category, squad size does not convert into results.
Is the 2013 group catching the 2012 group?
Not across the championships as a whole — 24 titles to thirteen. But there are two clear warning signs for the older year. Piotr Kupś, born in 2013, won the single canoe in a time 7.58 seconds faster than the 2012 champion, and Nikola Maćkowiak and Lena Karbowska, both from 2013, matched the best of the older group with two titles each.
Which was the closest final?
The women's K1 over 2000 m in the 2013–2014 group. Lena Karbowska won in 10:01.09, 0.38 ahead of Aleksandra Kubalska — after two kilometres of racing in a thirty-boat field.
Where can I find the full youth results?
Complete results for every youth event, with full 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 U23 and paracanoe results from the same weekend.
Poznań tested coaching systems more than individual talent, and the system that came through best was Gorzów's — even though the single most striking performance belonged to Piotr Kupś of KS AZS-AWF Poznań. For the 2012 group this was a last season in the category; for the 2014 group, which took three golds here, it was the first of three. In a year the same course will show who survived the move to shorter water.
Sources: Polish Canoe Federation final bulletin, official regatta results, championship programme.