The 1981 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships were held in Nottingham, Great Britain.
The men's competition consisted of six Canadian (single paddle, open boat) and nine kayak events. Three events were held for the women, all in kayak.
This was the sixteenth championships in canoe sprint.
Medal summary Men's Canoe Event Gold Time Silver Time Bronze TimeC-1 500 m C-1 1000 m C-1 10000 m C-2 500 m László FoltánIstván Vaskúti Edem MuradosilovVigantas Zhekaitis Liubomir LjubenovSevdalin IlkovC-2 1000 m Ivan PatzaichinToma Simionov Olaf HeukrodtUwe Madeja Edem MuradosilovVigantas ZhekaitisC-2 10000 m Tamás BudayLászló Vaskúti Ivan PatzaichinToma Simionov Jiří VrdlovecPetr Kubíček
Kayak Event Gold Time Silver Time Bronze TimeK-1 500 m K-1 1000 m K-1 10000 m K-2 500 m Vladimir ParfenovichSergey Superata Waldemar MerkDaniel Wełna Bernd FleckeisenFrank FischerK-2 1000 m Vladimir ParfenovichSergey Superata Bernd FleckeisenFrank Fischer Waldemar MerkDaniel WełnaK-2 10000 m Nikolay AstapkovichVladimir Romanovsky István SzabóIstván Joós Ion BîrlădeanuNicușor EșanuK-4 500 m Igor GaydamakaSergey KrivozheyevJüri PoljansAleksander Vodovatov Jens NorqvistLars-Erik MobergPer-Inge BengtssonThomas Ohlsson Frank-Peter BischofAndré WohllebeRüdiger HelmHarald MargK-4 1000 m Rüdiger HelmFrank-Peter BischofPeter HempelHarald Marg Sergey KolokolovAleksandr VolkovskiyAlexander YermilovNikolay Baranov Matthias SeackAndreas FlunkerFrank RennerOliver SeackK-4 10000 m Alexander YermilovNikolay BaranovSergey KolokolovVasiliy Silenkov Leszek JamrozińskiAndrzej KlimaszewskiRyszard OborskiZdzisław Szubski Stephen BrownChristopher CanhamStephan JacksonAlan Williams
Women's Kayak Event Gold Time Silver Time Bronze TimeK-1 500 m K-2 500 m Birgit FischerCarsta Kühn Agneta AnderssonSusanne Wiberg Agafia BuhaevMaria ŞtefanK-4 500 m Birgit FischerCarsta KühnKathrin StollRoswitha Eberl Natalya FilonichLarissa NadvigaInna ZhipulinaLyubov Orechova Karin OlssonAgneta AnderssonSusanne WibergEva Karlsson
Medals table
References ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships - Part 1: flatwater (now sprint): 1936-2007. ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships - Part 2: rest of flatwater (now sprint) and remaining canoeing disciplines: 1936-2007.