ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships


The ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships are an international event in canoe racing, one of two Summer Olympic sport events organized by the International Canoe Federation. The World Championships have taken place every non-Olympic year since 1970 and officially included paracanoe events since 2010; since 2012, paracanoe-specific editions of this event have been held in Summer Paralympic years.
Prior to November 2008, canoe sprint was known as flatwater racing.

Explanation of events

competitions are broken up into canoe, an open canoe with a single-blade paddle, or in kayaks, a closed canoe with a double-bladed paddle. Each canoe or kayak can hold one person, two people, or four people. For each of the specific canoes or kayaks, such as a K-1, the competition distances can be,,, or long. When a competition is listed as a C-2 500 m event as an example, it means two people are in a canoe competing at a distance.
Paracanoe competitions are contested in either a va'a, an outrigger canoe with a single-blade paddle, or in a kayak. All international competitions are held over 200 metres in single-man boats, with three event classes in both types of vessel for men and women depending on the level of an athlete's impairment. The lower the classification number, the more severe the impairment is – for example, VL1 is a va'a competition for those with particularly severe impairments.

Summary

ICF Paracanoe World Championships
NumberYearCityCountryEvents
11938Vaxholm12
21948London5
31950Copenhagen15
41954Mâcon15
51958Prague15
61963Jajce16
71966East Berlin16
81970Copenhagen16
91971Belgrade18
101973Tampere18
111974Mexico City18
121975Belgrade18
131977Sofia18
141978Belgrade18
151979Duisburg18
161981Nottingham18
171982Belgrade18
181983Tampere18
191985Mechelen18
201986Montréal18
211987Duisburg18
221989Plovdiv22
231990Poznań22
241991Paris22
251993Copenhagen22
261994Mexico City24
271995Duisburg24
281997Dartmouth26
291998Szeged26
301999Milan26
312001Poznań27
322002Seville27
332003Gainesville27
342005Zagreb27
352006Szeged27
362007Duisburg27
372009Dartmouth27
382010Poznań28 + 7
392011Szeged29 + 8
–2012Poznań11
402013Duisburg29 + 12
412014Moscow29 + 12
422015Milan26 + 12
–2016Duisburg12
432017Račice27 + 12
442018Montemor-o-Velho30 + 12
452019Szeged30 + 12
–2020Duisburg
462021Copenhagen
472022Dartmouth

This medal table includes all events except the paracanoe and the exhibition events. The current historical medal count of the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships as the 2019 championships is as follows:
;Note