Denmark’s Mads Brandt Pedersen and Hungary’s Vanda Kiszli made good their world championship form with wins at the ICF canoe marathon world cup on the Vaires-sur-Maine course, the venue for canoe sprint and paracanoe at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

For Kiszli it was double gold on the weekend, winning the short distance marathon on Saturday and following up with a victory over the full marathon course on Sunday. The Hungarian also won both titles at the 2019 ICF world championships in Shaoxing, China.

Kiszli finished more than one minute ahead of the Danish paddlers Pernille Hostrup and Anne-Sofie Winther, who took the silver and bronze.

Pedersen showed the extended lay-off because of the international covid lockdown had not diminished his speed, with a win in the men’s long-distance marathon. The 2019 world champion finished almost two-minutes ahead of Frenchman Jeremy Candy, with another Frenchman, Stephane Boulanger, taking the bronze.

In the women’s C1, French paddler Marine Sansinena followed up her win over the shorter distance on Saturday with gold in the marathon on Sunday, with fellow French paddker Pauline Martin and German Maya Miller taking the silver and bronze – a repeat of the podium from 24 hours earlier.

It was also double gold for Czech Jakub Brezina in the men’s canoe, adding the marathon title to his short-distance title from Saturday. Brezina finished 35 seconds ahead of teammate Jan Dlouhy, with France’s Thoma Dubois Dunilac another 30 seconds back in third.