After the thrill of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games comes the excitement of the International Canoe Federation Canoe Sprint World Championships.
It’s an amazing time to be a Canoe Sprint fan with the two biggest competitions in the discipline taking place within the space of two weeks.
Uzbekistan is the host of the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships where paddlers will go for glory in 20 non-Olympic events.
Let’s look at what to watch out for over the next three days of competition.
Czech champions arrive on crest of wave
Still on a high after their victories at Paris 2024, Josef Dostal and Martin Fuksa take to the Samarkand waters seeking further success.
Dostal pulled off a stunning victory in the men’s kayak single 1000m final to become Olympic champion.
Now, Dostal will go in search of his fourth world title in the men’s K1 500m having triumphed in 2017, 2018 and 2022.
The other newly crowned Olympic gold medallist in the field is fellow countryman Fuksa.
The Czech paddler captured the men’s C1 1000m title in Paris and will look to continue his fabulous form in Samarkand.
He will seek to clinch the men’s C1 500m – an event he last won in 2015 and 2017.
Germany’s Conrad-Robin Scheibner, Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN) Zakhar Petrov,
Moldova’s Serghei Tarnovschi, Romania’s Catalin Chirila and Poland’s Wiktor Glazunow will look to challenge Fuksa to the title.
Mixed fours to debut as couple link up in boat
It’s a love story that continues to captivate the canoeing world as Dostal and Anezka Paloudova aim to achieve another early wedding present before tying the knot.
Paloudova was overjoyed to see her fiancée strike gold in the city of love earlier this month while she made her Olympic debut.
The Czech couple will now compete together in the mixed kayak double 500m.
It is one of four events where men and women will combine in Uzbekistan.
As well as the return of the mixed K2 500m and mixed canoe double 500m, there will be the arrival of the mixed kayak four 500m and mixed canoe four 500m on the global stage.
They are the new medal events on the World Championships programme, meaning quartets have the chance to make history.
Guliev leads Uzbek team at historic World Championships
For the first time in its 86-year history, ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships is being staged in the Asian continent.
Uzbekistan has the pleasure of holding the historic event, with the impressive Rowing and Canoeing Race Course in Samarkand playing host.
The Central Asian nation has sent a team of 22 paddlers including reigning world champion Artur Guliev.
Home hopes will rest on the shoulders of Guliev, who is seeking to defend his men’s C1 200m crown.
Shakhriyor Makhkamov, Ekaterina Shubina and Nilufar Zokirova, who all represented Uzbekistan at Paris 2024, will also be hoping to delight the home fans.
Strong field set for women’s canoe
There is an exciting line-up in the women’s C1 500m with several world champions ready to do battle.
Among those are AIN paddler Alena Nazdrova, Chile’s Maria Jose Mailliard and Ukraine’s Liudmyla Luzan who captured the world title in 2019, 2021 and 2022 respectively.
Cuba’s Yarisleidis Cirilo Duboys, a bronze medallist in the women’s C1 200m at Paris 2024, is another paddler who is expected to be in the mix.
Nazdrova and Mailliard will also be competing over 1000m and 5000m, while Luzan will be bidding for success in the women’s canoe double 200m with Anastasiia Rybachok.
Portage drama set for final day
Portugal's Fernando Pimenta and Denmark's Mads Brandt Pedersen look set to lock horns in the final of the men's K1 5000m.
The action-packed event will captivate spectators on the last day of competition with paddlers tackling five portages.
Pimenta will be out for revenge after finishing second behind Pedersen at last year’s World Championships.
The Portuguese star is a two-time winner of the event, with his last victory coming in 2018, and will be relishing another battle with his Canoe Marathon rival.
Germany’s Nico Paufler and Norway’s Jon Amund Vold are also contenders along with AIN paddler Aleh Yurenia who triumphed in Szeged in May.
