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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 other being the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships). 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 (named ICF Paracanoe World Championships) have been held in Summer Paralympic years.

Prior to November 2008, canoe sprint was known as flatwater racing.

Explanation of events[edit]

Canoe sprint competitions are broken up into canoe (C), an open canoe with a single-blade paddle, or in kayaks (K), a closed canoe with a double-bladed paddle. Each canoe or kayak can hold one person (1), two people (2), or four people (4). For each of the specific canoes or kayaks, such as a K-1 (kayak single), the competition distances can be 200 metres (660 ft), 500 metres (1,600 ft), 1,000 metres (3,300 ft), or 5,000 metres (16,000 ft) 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 500 metres (1,600 ft) distance.^[1]

Paracanoe competitions are contested in either a va'a (V), an outrigger canoe (which includes a second pontoon) with a single-blade paddle, or in a kayak (as above). 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.^[2]

Editions[edit]

  ICF Paracanoe World Championships (paracanoe events only)

• Events exclude exhibition events.

Edition	Year	Host City	Host Country	Events
1	1938	Vaxholm	Sweden	12
2	1948	London	Great Britain	5
3	1950	Copenhagen	Denmark	15
4	1954	Mâcon	France	15
5	1958	Prague	Czechoslovakia	15
6	1963	Jajce	Yugoslavia	16
7	1966	East Berlin	East Germany	16
8	1970	Copenhagen	Denmark	16
9	1971	Belgrade	Yugoslavia	18
10	1973	Tampere	Finland	18
11	1974	Mexico City	Mexico	18
12	1975	Belgrade	Yugoslavia	18
13	1977	Sofia	Bulgaria	18
14	1978	Belgrade	Yugoslavia	18
15	1979	Duisburg	West Germany	18
16	1981	Nottingham	Great Britain	18
17	1982	Belgrade	Yugoslavia	18
18	1983	Tampere	Finland	18
19	1985	Mechelen	Belgium	18
20	1986	Montréal	Canada	18
21	1987	Duisburg	West Germany	18
22	1989	Plovdiv	Bulgaria	22
23	1990	Poznań	Poland	22
24	1991	Paris	France	22
25	1993	Copenhagen	Denmark	22
26	1994	Mexico City	Mexico	24
27	1995	Duisburg	Germany	24
28	1997	Dartmouth	Canada	26
29	1998	Szeged	Hungary	26
30	1999	Milan	Italy	26
31	2001	Poznań	Poland	27
32	2002	Seville	Spain	27
33	2003	Gainesville	United States	27
34	2005	Zagreb	Croatia	27
35	2006	Szeged	Hungary	27
36	2007	Duisburg	Germany	27
37	2009	Dartmouth	Canada	27
38	2010	Poznań	Poland	28 + 7
39	2011	Szeged	Hungary	29 + 8
–	2012	Poznań	Poland	11
40	2013	Duisburg	Germany	29 + 12
41	2014	Moscow	Russia	29 + 12
42	2015	Milan	Italy	26 + 12
–	2016	Duisburg	Germany	12
43	2017	Račice	Czech Republic	27 + 12
44	2018	Montemor-o-Velho	Portugal	30 + 12
45	2019	Szeged	Hungary	30 + 12
–	2020	Duisburg	Germany	–
46	2021	Copenhagen	Denmark	28 + 12
47	2022	Dartmouth	Canada	30 + 12
48	2023	Duisburg	Germany	30 + 12
-	2024	Szeged	Hungary	12
49	2024	Samarkand	Uzbekistan	12
50	2025	Milan	Italy

Note[edit]

• The 2020 ICF Paracanoe World Championships were cancelled as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[3]

Events[edit]