World champions Mads Brandt Pedersen of Denmark and Cyrille Carre of France head quality fields for this weekend’s ICF canoe marathon world cup on the Vaires sur Marne course in Paris, the first international event at the venue for the 2024 Olympic canoe sprint and paracanoe competition.

Eleven nations and 130 athletes have entered the world cup, the first international competition for canoe marathon paddlers for almost two years because of Covid restrictions.

The two-day competition will feature junior and senior K1 and C1 short distance (3.4 kilometre) races on Saturday, and longer distances ranging from 11.8 kilometres for junior women’s C1 to 29.8 kilometres for the senior men’s K1.

Pedersen was an impressive winner of the 2019 long distance marathon world title in China, while Carre won the short distance marathon. Both will be looking for a strong performance this weekend ahead of this year’s world championships in Pitesti, Romania.