Portugal’s canoeing stars made waves in Milan last weekend, storming to the podium with a haul of gold, silver and bronze medals at the Canoe Sprint World Championships.
The highlight came in the men’s K4 500 metres, where Gustavo Gonçalves, João Ribeiro, Messias Baptista and Pedro Casinha powered to an historic world title. Ribeiro and Baptista doubled up with silver in the K2 500, while veteran great Fernando Pimenta, 36, added bronze in the Olympic K1 1,000 metres – his staggering 155th career podium finish. Pimenta narrowly missed out on more, finishing fourth in the K1 500 and sixth in the K1 5,000.
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was quick to salute the team’s performance on Sunday, praising the athletes for keeping Portugal’s flag flying high on the international stage.
