The event, staged in Cagliari, the capital city of the Italian island, hosted 100 athletes with competitors paddling the 26 kilometres course between Poetto Beach and Solanas Beach.

Spain's Water Bouzan Sanchez became the new European champion in the men’s senior event, finishing in a time of 1 hour 48min 31sec.

France's Nicolas Lambert crossed the finish line 38 seconds later to pick up the silver medal and Serbia's Saša Vujanić won bronze in 1:50:13.

Italian paddler Susanna Cicali won the European title in front of her home crowd in the women’s senior event with a time of 2:05:17.

The 24-year old finished the race ahead of Amaia Osaba Olaberri of Spain and France's Angie Moudeu who completed the course in 2:05:59 and 2:07:41 respectively.

France were especially successful in the men’s junior category, where the top five places were all occupied by their athletes.

The gold medal went to 17-year old Hector Henot, in 1:57:20, as his compatriot Axel Kempf was less than a minute behind in 1:58:10 , while Nathan Le Nestour took bronze with a time of 2:03:08.

Thanks to Sophie Manchel and Marie Sainte Laury, France also celebrated the top two positions in the women’s junior event.

The two French representatives were more than 20 minutes faster than third placed Romanian Bianca Cristina Balas.

Manchel finished in 2:16:31 beating Laury by six seconds after she crossed the line in 2:22:22.

In the women’s under-23 event, Linnea Stenils, a member of Swedish canoe sprint team, won the title with a time of 2:14:02.

Raquel Bota Farres won a silver medal for Spain in 2:15:56 whilst a time 2:20:01 secured Italy's Chiara Sabattini the bronze.

The men’s-under 23 title also went to Sweden as Emil Torstensson was quickest in 1:55:10.

Spain's James George Fitzsimmons won the silver medal in a time of 1:55:33 and France's Valentin Henot collected the bronze, completing the race in 1:56:19.