The 1971 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships were held in Meran, Italy under the auspices of International Canoe Federation for the second time. It was the 12th edition. The mixed C2 team event was discontinued following the 1969 championships. Meran hosted the championships previously in 1953, tying a record set both by Geneva, Switzerland (1949, 1959) and by Spittal, Austria (1963, 1965).
| Event | Gold | Points | Silver | Points | Bronze | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C1 |  Reinhold Kauder (FRG) |
293.76 |  Wulf Reinicke (GDR) |
305.49 |  Petr Sodomka (TCH) |
313.23 |
| C1 team | East Germany Jürgen Köhler Wulf Reinicke Jochen Förster |
410.19 | West Germany Wolfgang Peters Harald Cuypers Reinhold Kauder |
423.81 | Czechoslovakia Zbyněk Puleč Karel Třešňák Petr Sodomka |
500.90 |
| C2 | East Germany Klaus Trummer Jürgen Kretschmer |
268.68 | East Germany Rolf-Dieter Amend Walter Hofmann |
282.50 | East Germany Uwe Franz Ulrich Opelt |
284.76 |
| C2 team | East Germany Rolf-Dieter Amend & Walter Hofmann Klaus Trummer & Jürgen Kretschmer Uwe Franz & Ulrich Opelt |
403.78 | West Germany Karl-Heinz Scheffer & Heinz-Jürgen Steinschulte Manfred Heß & Wolfgang Wenzel Hans Jakob Hitz & Theo Nüsing |
493.70 | Czechoslovakia Ladislav Měšťan & Zdeněk Měšťan Antonín Brabec & František Kadaňka Milan Horyna & Gabriel Janoušek |
499.06 |
| Event | Gold | Points | Silver | Points | Bronze | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| K1 | Siegbert Horn (GDR) |
241.40 | Christian Döring (GDR) |
251.17 | Ulrich Peters (FRG) |
252.67 |
| K1 team |  AustriaKurt Presslmayr Norbert Sattler Hans Schlecht |
302.83 | East Germany Jürgen Bremer Siegbert Horn Christian Döring |
329.87 | West Germany Jürgen Gerlach Alfred Baum Ulrich Peters |
337.05 |
| Event | Gold | Points | Silver | Points | Bronze | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C2 | Czechoslovakia Hana Koudelová Jiří Koudela |
342.14 | Czechoslovakia Jitka Legatová Milan Svoboda |
355.41 | Czechoslovakia Ludmilla Sirotková Jiří Krejza |
399.36 |
| Event | Gold | Points | Silver | Points | Bronze | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| K1 | Angelika Bahmann (GDR) |
347.30 | Ludmila Polesná (TCH) |
367.18 | Veronika Stampe (GDR) |
370.10 |
| K1 team | East Germany Angelika Bahmann Veronika Stampe Dagmar Kriste |
520.13 | West Germany Ursula Heinrich Ulrike Deppe Bärbel Körner |
603.82 | Czechoslovakia Bohumila Kapplová Ludmila Polesná Irena Komancová |
736.02 |
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | East Germany (GDR) | 6 | 4 | 2 | 12 |
| 2 | West Germany (FRG) | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 1 | 2 | 5 | 8 |
| 4 | Austria (AUT) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals (4 entries) | 9 | 9 | 9 | 27 | |
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