Olympic gold medalists and world champions are among the starters for the second annual ICF canoe sprint Super Cup, which will be contested in Linyi, China, on Wednesday.

Three-time Olympic champion Sebastian Brendel, world champions Fernando Pimenta, Volha Khudzenka and Nevin Harrison, and defending Super Cup champions Maxime Beaumont and Martin Fuksa, head a star-studded line-up for the boutique canoeing event.

This year athletes will race over the unique distance of 300 metres, with generous prizemoney on offer. Last year’s Super Cup was held in Barnaul, Russia, with racing held over 350 metres.

Germany’s Brendel and Czech Fuksa have enjoyed a canoeing rivalry for several years, but will have plenty of challengers in China. France’s Adrien Bart won C1 1000 world cup gold in Duisburg this year, while Russia’s Kirill Shamshurin finished second behind Brendel at last week’s Olympic test event.

In the women’s C1, American teenage sensation Nevin Harrison will be out to show her world championship win in the C1 200 last month was not a once-off. She’ll once again face up to Russia’s Olesia Romasenko, silver medalist behind Harrison in Szeged, with Canada’s Katie Vincent back for her second Super Cup.

France’s Maxime Beaumont, an Olympic silver medalist and inaugural K1 winner of the ICF Super Cup in 2018, will be even stronger this year with the race distance reduced by 50 metres. Portugal’s Fernando Pimenta, the 2018 K1 1000 world champion, and Max Lemke, a member of the triumphant German K4 500 team, will be keeping Beaumont honest.

Belarussian Volha Khudzenka won K2 200 and 500 gold with Maryna Litvinchuk at last month’s world championships, and is a previous K1 500 gold and silver medalist. She will be the athlete to beat in Linyi, with Sweden’s Linnea Stensils and Belgium’s Lisa Broekx both proven speed machines.

Most of the athletes competing in Linyi have travelled from the ICF canoe sprint Olympic test event in Tokyo. The Super Cup will be televised live on Eurosport.