ICF Canoe Sprint Committee activities Q3 2025

Portugal delivers again!

Our Junior and U23 World Championships was followed by the Masters World Championships in July in Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal. They were the first Canoe Sprint World Championships in the new Olympic cycle.  Almost 1,000 athletes from 66 nations across five continents enjoyed staying there and expressed their high performances. Some of the athletes also competed in Senior World Championships which took place in Milan one month later and they were dreaming of competing at LA28 and Brisbane 2032. The city of Montemor and the Portuguese Canoe Federation have hosted four World Championships in seven years. The great organisation equipped with new technology shows us the future direction of our sport. All of us were also impressed by warm hospitalities shown by the staffs and volunteers.

Happy return to Milan

Our Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Championships were held in Milan, Italy where we had 71 National Federations from five continents participate. We were so happy to come back to Idroscalo since 2015 when we had World Championships both for Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe. These championships were the qualification events for Rio 2016. We would like to express our huge thanks to the Host Organising Committee and the Italian Canoe Federation to their great dedication for these championships. I would also like to express our thanks to the collaboration shown by the NFs and teams.

Workshop for new Olympic Qualification system

The purpose of creating the new Olympic Qualification system beyond 2024 is to increase participation across the board, generate more continental activities and to widen the geographical scope of our sport in accordance with our Fit for Future strategy. In creating the Qualification system, the ICF worked to keep the good communication with the NFs and enhanced transparency. In these regards, we are happy to receive feedback from NFs and the teams. We had a lot of valuable feedback from NFs when we organised a meeting in Milan on August 22. NFs are largely in favour with a national ranking system over an individual ranking system. When we started the discussion in the Working Group, the purpose of the new system includes developing the sport globally, particularly outside Europe, using World Cup events to increase visibility, and building iconic figures (e.g.,“King of Kayak,” “Queen of Canoe”) while ensuring fairness and financial feasibility. The nation-based rankings allow flexibility for injuries, pregnancies, or emerging talent. The ICF reflected the opinions from NFs to the new Qualification system. We believe that in the new Qualification system, as the points will be accumulated through the variety of competitions crossing over the continents, and it is the first time that we will introduce the World Ranking in our Qualification system for the ICF. Therefore, it must be the great step towards the future. We also consider the way to highlight the athletes continuously.

Organising Committees for the Games

The Organising Committee of LA 28 officially appointed Hoichan Kwon, a former ICF member of staff, as Canoe Sport Manager for Canoe Sprint, Canoe Slalom and Paracanoe with the consent of the ICF. We have worked with Hoichan for a long time, and we are very happy with his inauguration to this position. We are looking forward to working with him towards 2028.  We have also been in good contact with Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee in accordance with the official proper process. We hope that the ICF will have work together towards our common goal.

Women’s Symposium in Sydney

It was really fruitful to watch the great part of Canoe Slalom World Championships and also to attend the Women’s Symposium in Penrith. It was also my great pleasure to see the members of Paddle Australia and members who are working towards Brisbane 2032.

By Toshi Furuya, Chair of the ICF Canoe Sprint Committee