World Cups

Canoe Sprint World Cups

Test of skill and strength at the Canoe Slalom World Cup
Zoom
Test of skill and strength at the Canoe Slalom World Cup

The Canoe Sprint World Cup competitions are held every year in a four-competition series. The first three events are the World Cups which are held during the month of May and the beginning of June. Holding the competitions just two weeks apart means teams from around the world can travel to all three events more easily. The final in the series is the World Championships which are held in August. Athletes win points at each of the four events, these are then added to decide the World Cup Ranking winners.

The events from both the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympic Games count for World Cup Ranking points. Namely these are:

Men’s K1, K2, C1, 200m
Men’s K1, K2, K4, C1, C2 1000m
Women’s K1, K2, K4 500m

After each Event, the Host National Federation calculates the points for each competitor in each category. These are; Men’s Kayak, Women’s Kayak, Men’s Canoe and Team Events. At the end of the World Cup Series, the ICF Canoe Sprint Committee calculates the final classification and prizes are awarded to the winners and second and third place. If two or more competitors have equal points in the final ranking, they are ranked in the same place and will receive the same prizes.

Canoe Slalom

The Canoe Slalom World Cup series works differently. The series is kept to the three World Cups, the World Championships is not included. The Men’s and Women’s K1 and the Men’s C1 and C2 are all valid events for acquiring points. First place receives 50 points, 2nd place 45 points, 3rd place 41 points, 4th place 39 points, 5th place 38 points and so on until 40th place receives 3 points. All boats that do not qualify for the semi-final receive 2 points, boats that receive DNF take 1 point and all those DSQ and DNS receive 0 points. When all points are added, prizes are awarded for the winner of each category. In case of a tie, the competitor with the best result in the last World Cup race is given the higher ranking.

Other Disciplines

Wildwater Canoeing and Canoe Marathon hold both World Cups and World Championships every year. Wildwater has three World Cups per year while Canoe Marathon holds two World Cups every even year and one every odd year. Canoe Freestyle alternates its World Cup with its World Championships. Every even year, two Canoe Freestyle World Cups are held.