From close calls to skillful maneuvers and splashing down the ramp, the 2025 International Canoe Federation Canoe Slalom season delivered maximum entertainment as always. Here is our 2025 season review.
Gestin best in C1
Is there anything that Nicolas Gestin cannot do? Probably not, going by his 2025 season. The French paddler could have rested on his laurels after winning a prestigious canoe single gold medal at a home Olympic Games last year, but instead he chose to go all out. The 25-year-old, instead of basking in his glory, went on to win his first overall ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup C1 crown. He then capped the season off by winning the C1 gold at the ICF Slalom World Championships in Sydney. Talk about dominance.
French and the furious
A new generation of superstars has hinted that France will remain a force in Canoe Slalom for many years to come. Following in Gestin's footsteps, Titouan Castryck did the double at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup Series and the World Championships in the kayak single. His battle with good friend and compatriot Anatole Delassus was a joy to watch. Elsewhere, Camille Prigent added to the French delight as she captured the kayak cross individual World Cup Series crown. At the World Championships, it was another French Paris 2024 star, Angele Hug, who stood out in the kayak cross head-to-head winning gold, as Prigent bagged silver. The action in Sydney also saw Frenchman Mathurin Madore claim silver in the men’s kayak cross.
Double delight for Woods and Zwolinska
Kimberley Woods of Great Britain and Klaudia Zwolinska of Poland enjoyed a great season among women paddlers. Woods, who had a tough start in the ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup Series, finished with the K1 and C1 overall titles. Zwolinska, on the other hand, surprised herself as she went on to win World Championships gold medals in the K1 and C1. In a post-Olympic year, when athletes tend to take time to reset and refresh, Woods and Zwolinska showed that a late push can still be rewarded with double the sweetness.
Year of firsts
To be the first-ever to achieve something is an unbeatable feeling, and there was plenty of that in 2025. Among them was Nicholas Collier, who became the first New Zealander to win gold at the ICF Junior and U23 Canoe Slalom World Championships in Foix, France. In the men’s kayak cross U23 final, he outsmarted Olympic star Castryck, his French counterpart Gino Benini, and Italian Xabier Ferrazz for a famous win. Used to winning in the C1, Slovakian Sona Stanovska got a memorable K1 gold in the first World Cup of the season. In Spain, we saw the birth of another Great Britain star. Having already dominated age groups, Lois Leaver won kayak cross bronze and went on to add plenty more as the season unwound. In Prague, another New Zealander marked his name in World Cup history. Finn Butcher, the Olympic kayak cross champion, battled his way to a first-ever gold in the competition. That’s not all, as the action in Tacen saw Japan’s Momoka Nagasu, world number 117, stunning the field to reach the final before claiming silver – Japan’s first-ever medal in kayak cross.
Class is permanent
Following the birth of his second child, Great Britain’s Joseph Clarke, a two-time Olympic medallist, was not able to make a mark on the World Cup circuit. While he also failed to defend the K1 title at the World Championships in Sydney, Clarke put on a show in the kayak cross, powering to victory, his fourth on the trot. After an Olympic Games to forget, Germany’s Ricarda Funk showed incredible resilience in the 2025 season. The Tokyo 2020 K1 champion secured the European title in Vaires-sur-Marne first before concluding the season by securing the overall kayak cross World Cup crown and a K1 team silver in Sydney. Star paddlers, responding like champions!
