There are not many paddle sport disciplines that paracanoeist Markus Mendy Swoboda has not tried.
Austria’s Swoboda is a Paraympic medallist and multiple world and European champion in sprint.
But paddling at top speed in a straight line for 200m is only one element of his skills in a boat.
Swoboda is ‘Mr Versatile’. He has competed in sprint, marathon, freestyle, ocean racing, polo, slalom and wildwater.
In just 24 hours, Swoboda will go from winning gold in Paracanoe at the International Canoe Federation Canoe Marathon World Championships in Gyor, Hungary to featuring in wildwater kayaking as part of the Red Bull Dolomitenmann in Lienz, Austria.
“This is my sport, and I love it because it’s so versatile,” said Swoboda.
“If you are good at one thing in paddling you might be good at something else so it’s a really good sport, especially for me as a handicapped person.
“I can do it alone on my own terms.
“I can do nearly anything.
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“I can’t do Stand Up Paddling as standing is a problem, but I love how versatile the sport is and going into the nature and doing tours with the canoe and kayak.
“I have done multiple day tours like from Ulm in Germany to my home club in Linz or from Vienna to Budapest.
“It took me multiple days with everything in the boat, it’s a really great sport.”
In 2022, Swoboda participated at the ICF Canoe Freestyle World Cup in Columbus, United States.
“I managed to get 30 or 40 points;” said Swoboda.
“The winning run was 1000 points, but I enjoyed it.
“It’s such a different community. It was real fun especially with the Americans as they are different when it comes to kayaking.”
Swoboda also runs a Canoe Polo team in Linz and would like to one day test himself in a surfski.
A bacterial infection in his leg stopped Swoboda in his tracks this year, forcing him to miss the sprint season as he did not compete at the ICF Paracanoe World Cup in Poznan and the ICF Paracanoe World Championships in Milan.
Instead, Swoboda focused on preparing for the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships in Gyor where Paracanoe races featured as official medal events for the first time.
His efforts paid off as he claimed two gold medals, winning the men’s KL2 10k and men’s VL3 10k titles.
“To get two gold medals is great, especially with this atmosphere. It’s very special winning in Hungary,” said Swoboda.
“I felt extremely sluggish at the start.
“It was good to make it up with good base speed and climbing the groups up to the leaders and I could stick with them.
“That felt really good.
“I see my strength being in more of the longer distance races, but I have got to do the 200m as it pays the bills.
“I love to take the marathon.
“You don’t have to be pinpoint focused for 40 seconds.
“I had a bad start in the KL2, but I could catch up.
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“You can’t do this in the 200m. If you miss a stroke, it’s like half a second gone and you are out of the winning.”
Swoboda claimed silver in the men’s KL2 at the Paralympic Games Rio 2016 before featuring at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024.
He placed fourth in Paris, missing out on a medal by 0.02, and is considering going for a fourth Paralympic Games at LA28.
“I had bacteria in my leg, and I could not get rid of it for a whole month,” said Swoboda.
“I always had to be on antibiotics so I couldn’t train from April to August, so I just prepared for marathon as there was no time to prepare for the sprint.
“While I was sick, I didn’t lose any weight but I lost muscle, so muscle became fat.
“I’m a bit too heavy for sprint at the moment.
“If this had happened last year in the Paralympic year it would have been even worse, so I hope that this won’t happen again in the next three years.
“I will see next year if I can prepare for another Paralympics.
“I couldn’t decide this year because I couldn’t do the sprint but if I want to continue, I want to be in qualifying range for the Games.”
Other Paracanoe gold medallists at the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships on Friday included Hungary’s Robert Suba, Spain’s Nicolas Martinez, Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN) Larisa Volik, Great Britain’s Jeanette Chippington and Germany’s Lillemor Koeper
Swoboda claimed his second gold when he clocking a winning time of 48:47.04 in the men’s KL2 10k. Hungary’s Tibor Kiss was second in 51:08.55, with Spain’s Jose Javier Pineiro bagging bronze in 51:27.98.
There was a Hungarian one-two in the men’s KL1 6k as Suba triumphed in 31:30.05 and Peter Kiss came second in 32:37.15, while Canada's Mathieu St-Pierre earned bronze in 35:05.12.
Martinez came out on top in the men’s KL3 10k, winning in 48:34.29 as double Paralympic champion Serhii Yemelianov of Georgia had to settle for silver in 49:06.35 and France’s Gabin Keirel clinched bronze in 49:08.29.
Volik sealed the women’s VL3 6k crown in 35:47.01 as AIN paddler Nadezhda Andreeva secured silver in 36:44.11 and Poland’s Monika Kukla picked up bronze in 37:15.52.
Chippington added another gold to her glittering collection, winning the women’s VL2 6k title in 37:05.32, while Hungary’s Dalma Boldizsar came second in 38:38.90 and Poland’s Anna Bilovol crossed in 47:42.76 for bronze.
Koeper also topped the podium in the women’s VL1 6k, finishing first in 45:49.74 and was followed by Poland’s Karolina Bronowicz in 54:54.74 and Canada’s Lyne Tremblay in 1:01:42.96.
Full coverage of the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships can be viewed on the Planet Canoe YouTube channel.
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