A series of World Championships and World Cups have been awarded under the International Canoe Federation’s new bidding process.
The ICF Board of Directors allocated eight events across five of its disciplines when they met in Hangzhou, China on March 4 and 5.
Among those events include the addition of two ICF Canoe Ocean Racing World Cups this year following successful bids from La Vila Joiosa, Spain and Reunion, France.
Torbay, Devon in Great Britain has been awarded an ICF Stand Up Paddling World Cup in 2026, while La Plagne in France is set to stage an ICF Wildwater Canoeing World Cup in 2026.
An ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup will be heading to Canada in 2026, pending conditions set out by the ICF.
The ICF Junior and U23 Canoe Slalom World Championships will be hosted by Pattaya, Thailand in 2027 and Ivrea, Italy in 2028.
History will be made in Pattaya as it will be the first time the event has been held in the Asian continent.
Balatonfured, Hungary has sealed the hosting rights for the 2028 ICF SUP World Championships following the ICF Board of Directors’ approval.
It was also agreed that Krakow, Poland will stage the ICF Junior and U23 Canoe Slalom World Championships in 2029 having previously hosted the event in 2028.
It is the first time the ICF’s major events have been allocated under the organisation’s new bidding process which was approved at the ICF Congress in Antalya, Turkiye last November.
Aligned with the International Olympic Committee’s candidature process, the ICF’s new bidding system for awarding events is more transparent and will ensure the continued global growth of paddle sports.
The process incorporates two dialogue phases between the ICF and the National Federations, starting with ongoing dialogue before moving into targeted dialogue.
Under the new system, there are no time constraints, meaning World Cups and World Championships can be awarded as much ahead of time as desired.
The Board of Directors’ meeting also saw reports from ICF President Thomas Konietzko and ICF Secretary General Richard Pettit.
Members discussed a number of topics including gender equality and inclusion, its sustainable development programme operational policy, the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games qualification system and figures and analysis from Paris 2024.
Mr Pettit also presented the new office structure as the ICF looks to expand its workforce after the Congress backed the move of the organisation’s headquarters to Budapest, Hungary.
On March 3, the ICF Executive Committee agreed to grant full membership eligibility to all National Federations that are up to date with their 2024 and 2025 membership and competition-related fees.
Outstanding membership debts from 2023 and before will be written off.
The ICF administration will maintain an up-to-date record of each federation’s membership status and will ensue that, from January 1 2024, onwards, only NF that have fulfilled their membership fee obligations are eligible to participate in ICF-sanctioned events and/or access ICF development funding.
The Board of Directors’ meeting was held after Hangzhou staged the first-ever ICF Paddle Summit on March 1 and 2.
It was the first time that committee members representing all 10 disciplines had come together in one location for meetings.
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