Jon Tarrant, Stu Wood and Emily Lewis booked A Final places on the opening day of the 2024 ECA Canoe Sprint, Paracanoe and SUP European Championships in Szeged, Hungary.
The trio's efforts saw them all bypass the semi-finals and line up in tomorrow's final, whilst a number of Brits across the sprint and paracanoe events progressed through to their respective semi-finals.
A personal best performance from Jon Tarrant (Royal Leamington Spa) saw the men's KL3 athlete secure a second place finish in his heat and qualify direct to tomorrow's A Final.
It was tight as Tarrant went head to head with Spain's Juan Valle, as he crossed the line in 41.910 and less than a second off top spot.
Delighted with his racing, Taz said:
“I'm really pleased with the effort I put down today.
“Just like the rest of the team I've put a huge amount of work into this season and it's nice to see it come together on an international stage.
“A PB and a ticket directly to the final are great rewards and I'm hoping I can squeeze that little bit more out tomorrow as the margins get tighter.”
Making his international debut, Charlie Knowlden (Royal Leamington Spa) put down an impressive first display and nearly joined his British teammate in the final.
His great time of 44.437 was just 0.1 seconds off an A Final place, and Knowlden will now go again in tomorrow's semi-final to try and join his clubmate in the final.
2023 double World Cup gold medallist Stu Wood finished second in his men's VL3 heat to qualify for tomorrow's A Final.
Needing a top three finish to skip the semi-finals, Wood delivered a fantastic time of 48.376 to safely progress through.
Xander Van Der Poll was the second paracanoe athlete making his international debut as he took on the men's VL2 heats.
It was a great effort from Xander as he posted 59.711 and will race again tomorrow morning in the semi-finals.
A World Cup bronze medallist in Szeged earlier this season, Emily Lewis (Worcester) qualified for another women's K1 200m final after strong showing on the same course.
Finishing third in a tight heat, Lewis will line up again tomorrow afternoon after putting down a 40.969.
Lewis then returned to the boat alongside Lucy Lee-Smith (Norwich) with the pair in K2 200m action.
In what was another very tight heat, the duo finished fifth in 39.942 and will go again in the semi-finals.
After narrowly missing out on a medal at the World Cup in Poznan, Rebii Simon (Elmbridge) booked her place in tomorrow's K1W 1000m semi-finals after finishing fourth in a time of 4:09.781.
Dan Johnson (Chelmsford) finished third in his men's K1 1000m heat to secure a semi-final place. With just the top boat qualifying directly to the A Final, Johnson put down a time of 3:36.811.
Deb Kerr (Anker Valley) was in action twice on the opening day. Taking on her individual event first in the K1W 500m, Kerr's time of 1:59.093 placed her sixth to progress to the next stage.
She then joined forces with Emma Russell (Chelmsford) for the afternoon session, where the pair finished seventh in the K2 500m heats and will contest tomorrow's semi-finals.
Katie Reid (Forth) lined up twice on the opening morning in Szeged and will contest the semi-finals of women's C1 200m and 500m after progressing through both her respective heats.
Ealing's Trevor Thomson booked his place in the men's K1 200m semi-finals after finishing seventh in his heat in a time of 36.252.
He then went on to combine with James Russell as the pair continue to develop the men's K2 500m boat.
It was a solid hit-out for the duo as they placed fifth with a time of 1:33.363 and will go again on Friday.
Matt Collinge (Fowey) and Matt Johnson (Chelsmford) joined forces to take on the men's K2 1000m.
The pair were within touching distance of the top three, before finishing sixth in a time of 3:20.194 to qualify a semi-final place.
Jonathan Jones (Fladbury) sadly missed out on the next stage of the C1M 1000m, finishing eighth in his heat.
Jones jumped back in the boat with teammate Ben Phillips (Richmond) as the pair battled to a seventh place finish in a time of 1:49.618 to progress to the next round.
In the SUP, Anni Ridsdill-Smith finished 12th in the women's masters Long Distance in a time of 1:07:03.19.
A full list of results from day one of racing can be found here