It was first held in 1933 in Prague under the auspices of the International Canoe Federation.
In 1997, the European Championships were resumed, and now take place annually.
Among men, the number of wins is led by German Ronald Rauhe, who won the European championships 17 times.
3 events in 2019 Paracanoe European Championships and 1 event (Men's VL1) from the 2022 Canoe Sprint European Championships are not included in the medal table due to lack of participation.
This following table lists athletes that have won multiple medals since the 1997 edition (updated until 2021).