Great Britain’s Charlotte Henshaw and Brazil’s Fernando Rufino de Paulo are among the leading lights in Paracanoe that will compete in Poznan, Poland, where Canoe Sprint stars will also hope to dazzle.
Paralympic and Olympic champions will gather in the Polish city for four days of top-class paddling action.
Poznan will play host to the International Canoe Federation Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Cup from May 22 to 25.
It will be the first time Paracanoe’s biggest stars have appeared on the global stage since the Paralympic Games Paris 2024.
Great Britain has selected a strong team led by Henshaw who clinched Paralympic golds in the women’s KL2 and women’s VL3.
Laura Sugar, who won women’s KL3 gold in Paris, is also in the team along with Paralympic medallists Hope Gordon, David Phillipson and Stuart Wood.
The Brazilian team features double Paralympic gold medallist Rufino who is set to battle it out with his fellow countryman and good friend Igor Alex Tofalini in the men’s VL2.
Other Paralympic champions in Poznan are Chile’s Katherinne Wollermann, Ukraine’s Vladyslav Yepifanov, Hungary’s Peter Kiss and Georgia’s Serhii Yemelianov.
Pulawska aiming to star on home course
The ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup in Poznan is being held less than a week before the season got underway in Szeged, Hungary.
Poland’s Anna Pulawska will hope to continue from where she left off after securing gold medals in the women’s K1 200m and women’s K1 500m in Szeged,
With the home crowd behind her, Pulawska will aim to strengthen her position in the World Ranking as she competes in the women’s K1 500m and alongside Martyna Klatt in the women’s K2 500m.
The men’s K1 1000m looks set to be another thrilling event with Olympic gold medallists Balint Kopasz of Hungary and Josef Dostal of Czechia poised to lock horns again.
Reigning Olympic champions Germany and New Zealand will seek to bounce back in the kayak four 500m.
Germany saw their long unbeaten run come to an end in Szeged after finishing behind Hungary, while New Zealand missed out on a medal.
Ukraine and The Netherlands will be among the nations making their first World Cup appearance of the season.
Three-time Olympic medallist and multiple world champion Liudmyla Luzan of Ukraine will race in the women’s canoe single 200m and women’s C1 500m.
Selma Konijn and Ruth Vorsselman, who earned The Netherlands’ first quota for more than 30 years when they earned a place at Paris 2024, will compete in the women’s K2 500m.
Denmark’s Mads Brandt Pedersen, the two-time world champion in the men’s K1 5000m, will race in Poznan after missing Szeged.
Full coverage of the ICF Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Cup can be viewed on the Planet Canoe YouTube channel.
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