World Cups

Canoe Sprint

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

Canoe Slalom World Cups are staged differently. For the 2011 season, four World Cups will be held. The ICF will award the World Cup to the overall winner of the series in the Men’s and Women’s K1 event, the Men’s and Women's C1 event and the Men’s C2 event.

All athletes competing in a Semi-Final and Finals race are eligible to receive points on a sliding scale from 60 points (1st place) to 5 points for the last place in the semifinal. All other competing athletes will receive 2 points.

At the end of each World Cup race the ICF Canoe Slalom Committee will update the World Cup Standings, showing the current leaders in each category.

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 one or two World Cups each year depending on the program of other events the year. Canoe Freestyle alternates its World Cup with its World Championships. Every even year, two Canoe Freestyle World Cups are held.