Paracanoe paddlers are poised to take centre stage when Gyor, Hungary hosts an historic International Canoe Federation Canoe Marathon World Championships this week.
For the first time in the history of the ICF flagship event, official Paracanoe world titles will be contested in marathon distances of 6k and 10k.
It will mark an historic moment in the sport after Paracanoe marathon races were demonstrated at the past few editions of the World Championships.
There will be a stellar line-up of paddlers in Gyor with Paralympic stars joining the pioneers in Paracanoe marathon.
Among the Paralympic champions in action include Hungary’s Peter Kiss, Great Britain’s Jeanette Chippington, Ukraine’s Vladyslav Yepifanov and Georga’s Serhii Yemelianov.
Open class events featuring athletes with upper limb impairments, short stature, intellectual impairments, leg length difference, visual impairment, hypertonia, ataxia and athetosis will also be staged as exhibition races.
A total of 481 athletes from 42 nations are poised to compete across Canoe Marathon and Paracanoe events from Thursday to Sunday.
Hosts Hungary have fielded a strong team including two-time Olympic silver medallist Adam Varga.
Fresh from picking up two medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Milan, Varga will compete in the men’s kayak single short distance.
Varga will face the likes of Portugal’s Fernando Pimenta and Jose Ramalho, South Africa’s Hamish Lovemore and Denmark’s Mads Brandt Pedersen.
Lovemore will hope to gain revenge over Pedersen who defeated the South African in both the men’s short and long distances at The World Games 2025.
Pedersen has been superior in the K1, winning four out of the past five editions in the long distance and capturing his first short distance crown in 2024 to complete a memorable golden double in Metkovic.
Hungary’s Vanda Kiszli will also be seeking to respond after coming up short against Sweden’s Melina Andersson last year.
Kiszli won five successive world titles in the women’s K1 long distance only to see her dominance ended by Andersson who also triumphed over the short distance in Metkovic.
Andersson, who recently became a world champion over 5k in Milan, will be aiming to complete another double gold.
Other contenders for the women’s K1 crowns are Hungary’s Zsoka Csikos, Italy’s Susanna Cicali and Spain’s Eva Barrios.
In the women’s canoe, Ukraine’s Liudmyla Babak will be targeting an eighth straight world title in the C1 long distance.
Babak is set to be challenged by fellow Ukrainian Olena Tsyhankova and Hungary’s Zsofia Nora Kisban who has won back-to-back women’s C1 short distance crowns.
Poland’s Mateusz Borgiel will be looking to repeat his achievements in Metkovic in 2024 when he won the men’s C1 long distance title and the men’s canoe double gold along with Mateusz Zuchora.
Spain’s Manuel Antonio Campos and Portugal’s Rui Lacerda are poised to battle it out with Borgiel for the medals in the men’s C1 short-distance.
Hungary’s Balazz Adolf, Moldova’s Serghei Tarnovschi and Spain’s Jaime Duro are among the paddlers that are expected to challenge for the men’s C1 short distance crown.
Full coverage of the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships can be viewed on the Planet Canoe YouTube channel.
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