International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach has praised the Augsburg canoe slalom venue as a great example of how Olympic legacy should be.

President Bach joined a capacity crowd of more than 8000 fans on Saturday at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships at the famous Olympic venue. The Augsburg Ice Channel is this weekend celebrating 50 years since it hosted the Games debut of canoe slalom in 1972.

Augsburg is the oldest artificially created canoe slalom venues in the world, and joins La Seu (Barcelona 92), Sydney (2000), Beijing (2008), London (2012), Rio (2016) and Tokyo (2020) as Olympic venues which are still used today.

The venue has recently undergone a refurbishment, but the course remains the same. On Saturday President Bach and thousands of slalom fans watched hometown favourite and Tokyo gold medalist Ricarda Funk and Czech paddler Vit Prindis win exciting K1 gold medals.

“All the fans coming out, cheering the athletes, this is what the sport is about,” President Bach said.

“It’s a great Olympic legacy, 50 years from ’72, and to see here everything in good shape, and the athletes enjoying it, it’s a great example of how Olympic legacy should be.”

During this week’s world championships athletes and officials from the 1972 Olympics have been special guests, enjoying a series of activities to mark their role in the important Games debut of canoe slalom.