The president of the Portuguese Canoeing Federation (FPC), Vítor Félix, praised this Monday the performance of the modality in the European Games, congratulating himself for being the one that gave the country the most medals in the first week of competition in Poland.
“Clearly it is a very positive balance. A European Championship integrated into these European Games. Without a doubt, he is one of our best Europeans ever. Undoubtedly our best European Games, in three editions. Also with two gold medals and the inescapable silver Fernando Pimenta, already with 131 podiums”, praised the director.
Halfway through the competition, Portugal has nine podium finishes, four in canoeing, three in athletics, one in karate and one in paddle tennis.
“The president and management are very satisfied with the results of the team, contributing to improve Portugal’s performance in these European Games”, he reinforced.
Messias Baptista, in the K1 200 meters, and the Teresa Portela/Kevin Santos duo, in the mixed K2 200, won gold in Krakow, while Fernando Pimenta got silver in the K1 500 -his fifth silver in the European Games- and Francisca Laia the bronze in K1 200.
“This shows what the last decade of Portuguese canoeing has been like, always fighting for the first places. And we still had fourth place, 15 thousandths of a second off the podium. But we cannot lose focus on the main thing, which is the qualification. for the Olympic championship of the World Cup in August”, he underlined.
Portugal’s performance in Krakow, with four medals in a total of 10 finals, and not counting distances of 1,500 meters, due to the small size of the lake, does not affect the long-term goals set for the Paris Games.
“Since the beginning of the cycle, the federation has defined the objective of qualifying from eight to 10 canoeists. And with the obtaining of two medals between Olympic and Paralympic Games. When it comes to canoeing, the bar is always high, ”she assumed.
Portugal has nine medals in the European Games, namely three golds, three silvers and three bronzes, with canoeing responsible for four, athletics for three, karate and paddle tennis one, respectively, in the national medal table.
The third edition of the European Games runs until July 2 in Krakow and in the Polish region of Malopolska, with 30 sports on the program and 48 participating countries, including Portugal, which has a delegation of more than two hundred athletes.
Source: TSF
