It has been a year like no other for the International Canoe Federation, with significant achievements and milestones on and off the water. In the third of our reviews of the season, we look at all the successes and memorable stories in Canoe Sprint.
Catch me if you Can
Tie an anchor to her boat and she will still be the fastest. Too much? Who cares! When Lisa Carrington adjusts her shades and starts swinging those arms, it feels almost inevitable that the New Zealander will finish first, especially on the Olympic stage. At Paris 2024, Carrington increased her Olympic gold medal tally to eight with a hat-trick of titles in the women’s kayak single, double and four. Her triumph in the K1 500m was extra special as the world watched on, expecting a stern challenge from compatriot Aimee Fisher, who had won the last two meetings before the Games. But as they say, cometh the hour cometh the woman. Carrington won in an Olympic best time of 1:47.36 and equalled the record title tally of Germany’s Birgit Fischer which has stood for 20 years.
Czech Mate
Josef Dostal and Martin Fuksa ensured Czechia won two Olympic gold medals in Paris. Whether it was his love story with compatriot Anezka Paloudova, losing five kilograms or cutting back on the hours of fishing, Dostal, at the age of 31, convinced himself that he was back among the elite by winning the kayak single 1000m title, a decade since winning gold in the event at a major international event, and eight years since he won silver at Rio 2016. For Fuksa, it was a case of persistence finally paying off. After finishing fifth in the men’s canoe single 1000m at both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, Fuksa emerged victorious at the Olympic Games winning the men’s C1 500m gold medal.
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Double Delight
While the canoeing world expected Shixiao Xu and Mengya Sun to continue their domination in the women's canoe double 500m, the Chinese were rewarded with another gold in the men's C2 500m, thanks to Hao Liu and Bowen Ji. For Xu and Sun, the field is simply not challenging enough. Since combining for the first time in 2019, they have never been beaten. That's five years of gold medals! After winning the two ICF Canoe Sprint World Cups before heading to Paris, the title was inevitable for Xu and Sun in the French capital and they delivered in style. There is something about the C2 500m that brings out the best in China. At Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, China's Guanliang Meng and Wenjun Yang topped the podium in the men’s C2 500m. The event was not included in the Olympic programme until Paris 2024 when Liu and Ji followed in the footsteps of Meng and Yang.
Pan-America Is Great Again
The women's canoe single 200m final at Paris 2024 turned out to be a blockbuster for many reasons. With Canadian Katie Vincent and Nevin Harrison of the United States in the mix, the scene was set for a tight race. In the end, it was a hair's breadth that separated the two, as Vincent became the first female paddler from her country to win an Olympic gold. She was also the first Olympic champion in canoeing since Adam van Koeverden's triumph at the Athens 2004 edition. History was also made when Cuba’s Yarisleidis Cirilo Duboys finished with bronze behind Harrisson, meaning it was the first all-Pan American podium in Olympic canoeing history. It could not have happened at a better time, with the Olympic Games returning to Pan America in four years’ time with Los Angeles playing host in 2028.
Asian First
Before the Olympic Games, Poznan and Szeged hosted ICF Canoe Sprint World Cups, with the latter also staging the European Olympic qualifier and ICF Paracanoe World Championships. There was also Hangzhou hosting the Super Cup at which Canoe Sprint featured, but the special hosting moment of the year came two few weeks after the Games when Uzbekistan became the first Asian country to host the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in its 86-year history. Paddlers competed across 20 non-Olympic events in Samarkand, where beautiful stories were written. The lovely Dostal and Paloudova shared a boat for the first time, Portuguese pair Teresa Portela and Messias Baptista's superb fightback to win mixed kayak double 500m, Dostal cruising yet again, and a story of grit as Chile’s Maria Jose Mailliard recovered from sickness to capture the women’s canoe single 5000m crown.
