Just a few weeks after paddling for world glory, Canoe Marathon athletes will be back on the water aiming for success at the International Canoe Federation Hangzhou Super Cup.
Many of the paddlers that starred at last month’s ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships in Metkovic will be in Hangzhou this week.
Races will run from October 11 to 13 with competitors battling it out in kayak and canoe over both short and long distances.
Here are six athletes to watch in Hangzhou.
Mads Brandt Pedersen (DEN)
It has been a year to remember for Pedersen having captured two titles at the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships in Metkovic and clinched men’s K1 5000m gold at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Samarkand. Pedersen won the men’s K1 short-distance title for the first time in Metkovic before securing a third men’s K1 long-distance crown. The 28-year-old is in flying form and has good memories of China having won his first Canoe Marathon world title when it was staged in Shaoxing in 2019.
Melina Andersson (SWE)
Andersson was deservedly awarded as The World Games Athlete of the Month for September after her stunning performance in Metkovic. The Swedish paddler overcame the disappointment of her paddle breaking to retain the women’s K1 short-distance crown. She also pulled off a sensational fightback to break Hungary’s Vanda Kiszli’s strangehold on the women’s K1 long-distance to win it for the first time.
Vanda Kiszli (HUN)
For many years, Kiszli was unbeatable in the K1 as she took over the mantel of Hungarian great marathon paddler Renata Csay. Kiszli won the long-distance crown for five successive editions from 2018 and 2023. The 30-year-old also sealed the short-distance titles in 2019 and 2021 and claimed two golds at The World Games 2022. She will arrive in Hangzhou with a point to prove after her Swedish rival Andersson got the better of her over both the short and long distances in Metkovic.
Manuel Antonio Campos (ESP)
Like Kiszli, Campos will take to the startline eager to return to the top of the podium after missing out on gold in Metkovic. The Spanish paddler is a profile winner on the global stage, clinching the men’s C1 long-distance title on five occasions with his first coming in 2012. He won a hat-trick of golds in 2023 after triumphing in the men’s C1 long and short distances and the men’s C2. Mateusz Borgiel took centre stage in Metkovic with two canoe crowns but the Pole will not be in Hangzhou where Campos will seek to emerge victorious again.
Liudmyla Babak (UKR)
You have to go back eight years to find when Babak last did not seal women’s C1 gold at the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships. Since 2017, Babak has been indestructible over the long distance and underlined her dominance with an impressive victory in Metkovic to make it seven in a row. With Hungary’s Zsofia Kisban, the two-time world champion in the women’s C1 short-distance, not travelling to Hangzhou, Babak will fancy her chances of capturing two golds at the Super Cup.
Balazs Adolf (HUN)
It looks set to be a busy few days for Balazs Adolf who is down to compete in both the Canoe Marathon and Canoe Sprint. Adolf is a two-time Canoe Sprint world champion in C1 5000m and has also won world titles in Canoe Marathon, securing men’s C1 golds over the long and short distances in 2021. The Hungarian paddler has entered both categories again as he seeks to challenge the likes of Campos and fellow Spaniard Michael Garrido for the canoe crowns at the Super Cup.
Full coverage of this week's ICF Hangzhou Super Cup featuring Canoe Slalom, Canoe Sprint, Canoe Marathon and Canoe Polo can be viewed on the Planet Canoe YouTube channel.
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