ICF Dragon Boat Committee activities Q1 2026

World Cup Site Visit 

A site inspection was conducted from February 25 to 27 to “Longzhou Square in Yuanling County”, the potential venue for the 2026 ICF Dragon Boat World Cup.  The tentative dates of this World Cup would be from September 25 to 27 when participating teams may enjoy local mid-autumn festivities in addition to Dragon Boat competitions.  Besides normal 10-seater and 8-seater sprint races (200m, 500m and 2000m), there are plans for the first-ever dragon boat marathon race on September 27. The Yuanling County, Huaihua City, Hunan Province is one of the earliest regions in China to engage in Dragon Boat racing and is widely recognised as the birthplace of China’s traditional Dragon Boat culture. 

World Championships Update 

The ICF Dragon Boat World Championships is set to take place from September 30 to October 3.  It will be held at the Hangzhou Fuyang Water Sports Centre, the venue of the 2023 Asian Games and the 2024 ICF Hangzhou Super Cup.  Invitation will be sent to National Federations in the first week of April. After competing at the Yuanling Dragon Boat World Cup, national teams might take a high speed train to Hangzhou for the World Championships. 

World Master Games Update 

Kansai, Japan is set to stage the 2027 World Masters Games. This will be the test event for Dragon Boat and will be organised in Kyotango, Japan from August 6 to 8 together with the Asian Dragon Boat Championships.  

By Dr Waihung Luk, Chair of the ICF Dragon Boat Committee