The 2010 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships were held 19–22 August 2010 in Poznań, Poland, on Lake Malta. This was the third time that the Polish city hosted the championships, having done so previously in 1990 and 2001. Paracanoe (formerly paddleability) and the women's C-1 200 m events that were exhibition events at the previous world championships in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, became official events at these championships.

Germany and Hungary won the most medals at the championships with twelve each though the Hungarians won six golds, the most of the championships, compared to the Germans' five golds. Brazil, Japan and Tahiti won their first ever championship medals. Ronald Rauhe of Germany became the winningest medalist in men's kayak with his 21st career medal, earning that in a K-1 200 m silver. Rauhe eclipsed that record he had tied at the previous championships with fellow German Torsten Gutsche. In women's kayak, Hungary's Katalin Kovács tied Germany's Birgit Fischer for most career medals with 38 with three medals earned though Kovács 29th gold passed Fischer's 28 career golds. For the first time since 1975, a tie occurred in the medals only this time it was for the bronze in the C-1 200 m event between Canada's Richard Dalton and Ukraine's Yuriy Cheban. Canada also won the first gold medal in women's canoe with Laurence Vincent-Lapointe winning gold. Paracanoe's big winners were Brazil and Canada with three medals each.

Explanation of events Canoe sprint competitions are broken up into Canadian canoe (C), an open canoe with a single-blade paddle, or in kayaks (K), a closed canoe with a double-bladed paddle. Each canoe or kayak can hold one person (1), two people (2), or four people (4). For each of the specific canoes or kayaks, such as a K-1 (kayak single), the competition distances can be , , or long. When a competition is listed as a C-2 500 m event as an example, it means two people are in a canoe competing at a distance.

Preliminaries to the event Poznań was awarded the 2010 championships at an ICF board of directors meeting in Madrid, Spain, on 23 October 2003.

Event format changes At the 2009 ICF board of directors meeting in Windsor, Berkshire, England, women's C-1 200 m was added for these championships while women's C-2 500 m will remain a demonstration event like it had the previous championships. The relay events, started at the previous championships, and 5000 m events, included for the first time since their discontinuation after the 1993 championships in Copenhagen, will also occur. Paracanoe (formerly referred to as paddleability) will have four events covering three classifications with LTA (Legs, Trunk, and Arms), TA (Trunk and Arms), and A (Arms only). The events were confirmed following successes at the previous world championships on 18 December 2009. The schedule for the championships was released on 10 June 2010.

Visit from the ICF During the week of 1 March 2010, the ICF visited Lake Malta to meet with the Host Organizing Committee (HOC) to see how event preparations were progressing. Some items discussed were broadcasting, event promotion, athlete services, and communications. 2.5 hours of live television coverage on a daily basis is planned for the semifinal and final event as provided in the contract to meet the needs of the European market. 61 million people watched last year's championships in Canada. ICF Secretary General Simon Toulson expressed his support of the HOC and his hope that the 2010 championships will be a good one.

Event progress After opening ceremonies on the 18th, the first round of events took place on the 19th with 1000 m events completing their heats and the semifinals. Paracanoe heats were suspended later that day to high winds and weather conditions.

Participating nations 75 nations were listed on the preliminary entry list. The numbers in parentheses shown are for those who competed for each respective nation.

(1) (5) (6) (3) (23) (7) (2) (24) (5) (13) (12) (35) (6) (23) (1) (1) (5) (1) (25) (8) (2) (7) (6) (17) (33) (28) (4) (40) (11) (2) (3) (29) (18) (12)

(8) (11) (14) (3) (6) (9) (1) (8) (12) (7) (3) (37) (13) (18) (42) (1) (3) (1) (15) (7) (16) (7) (15) (10) (40) (16) (3) (1) (2) (5) (7) (3) (37) (17) (12) (4)

Russia had the most overall attendees with 42.

The media guide listed 75 nations as participating, but four nations listed did not compete (India, Iraq, Malta, Malaysia).

Results

Men's Non-Olympic classes

Canoe Russia won the most medals with four. The people with the most medals were two with Ivan Shtyl (Russia), Alexandru Dumitrescu (Romania), Victo Mihalachi (Romania), Vadim Menkov (Uzbeskistan), Dzianis Harasha (Belarus), Ronald Verch (Germany), and Paweł Baraszkiewicz (Poland). For the second time in the history of the championships, a tie occurred for a medal in the C-1 200 m bronze between Canada's Richard Dalton and Ukraine's Yuriy Cheban. The first occurred thirty-five years earlier, in the K-1 1000 m gold between Italy's Oreste Perri and Poland's Grzegorz Śledziewski.

EventHeatsSemifinalsFinal Gold Time Silver Time Bronze TimeC-1 200 mMen's C-1 200 m A final results. – Retrieved 22 August 2010. 21 August 21 August 22 August 39.161 39.729 39.953C-1 500 mMen's C-1 500 m A final results. – Retrieved 22 August 2010. 20 August 20 August 22 August 1:47.701 1:48.317 1:48.457C-1 1000 mMen's C-1 1000 m A final results. – Retrieved 21 August 2010. 19 August 19 August 21 August 3:51.721 3:51.921 3:53.837C-1 5000 mMen's C-1 5000 m final results. – Retrieved 21 August 2010. NA NA 21 August 23:24.342 23:26.398 23:38.070C-1 4 × 200 m relayMen's C-1 4 x 200 m relay A final results. – Retrieved 22 August 2010. 22 August NA 22 August Ivan ShtylMikhail PavlovNikolay LipkinEvgeny Ignatov 2:48.143 Oleksandr MaksymchukYuriy ChebanStanislav ShymanskyVyacheslav Tsekhosh 2:50.675 Adam GinterRoman RynkiewiczMariusz KrukPaweł Baraszkiewicz 2:51.059C-2 200 mMen's C-2 200 m A final results. – Retrieved 22 August 2010. 21 August 21 August 22 August Raimundas LabuckasTomas Gadeikis 36.019 Evgeny IgnatovIvan Shtyl 36.411 Paweł SkowrońskiPaweł Baraszkiewicz 36.551C-2 500 mMen's C-2 500 m A final results. – Retrieved 22 August 2010. 20 August 20 August 22 August Alexandru DumitrescuVictor Mihalachi 1:40.781 Sergiy BezugliyMaksym Prokopenko 1:41.277 Pavel PetrovAlexander Kostogold 1:41.345C-2 1000 mMen's C-2 1000 m A final results. – Retrieved 21 August 2010. 19 August 19 August 21 August Alexandru DumitrescuVictor Mihalachi 3:37.317 Andrei BahdanovichAliaksandr Bahdanovich 3:37.325 Márton TóthRóbert Mike 3:38.057C-4 1000 mMen's C-4 1000 m final results. – added 21 August 2010. 19 August 19 August 21 August Dzmitry RabchankaDzmitry VaitsishkinDzianis HarashaAliaksandr Vauchetski 3:18.724 Gabriel GheocaNicolae BogdanMihail SimonFlorin Comănici 3:20.548 Chris WendTomasz WylenzekRonald VerchErik Rebstock 3:20.616

Kayak Germany and Great Britain were the big medal winners with four each. Germany won the most golds with two. Ronald Rauhe won his record twenty-first world championship medal, eclipsing the record he tied last year with fellow German Torsten Gutsche. Ten canoeists each won two medals from five different countries.

EventHeatsSemifinalsFinal Gold Time Silver Time Bronze TimeK-1 200 mMen's K-1 200 m A final results. – Retrieved 22 August 2010. 21 August 21 August 22 August 34.807 35.155 35.195K-1 500 mMen's K-1 500 m A final results. – Retrieved 22 August 2010. 20 August 20 August 22 August 1:38.457 1:38.961 1:39.005K-1 1000 mMen's K-1 1000 m A final results. – Retrieved 21 August 2010. 19 August 19 August 21 August 3:29.544 3:30.040 3:30.128K-1 5000 mMen's K-1 5000 m final results. – Retrieved 21 August 2010. NA NA 21 August 20:01.338 20:03.574 20:06.670K-1 4 × 200 m relayMen's K-1 4 x 200 m relay A final results. – Retrieved 22 August 2010. 22 August NA 22 August Saúl CraviottoFrancisco LleraPablo AndrésCarlos Pérez 2:27.409 Edward McKeeverJon SchofieldLiam HeathEdward Cox 2:27.897 Viktor ZavolskiyAlexander DyachenkoYevgeny SalakhovAlexander Nikolaev 2:28.753K-2 200 mMen's K-2 200 m A final results. – Retrieved 22 August 2010. 21 August 21 August 22 August Arnaud HyboisSébastien Jouve 31.532 Saúl CraviottoCarlos Pérez 31.540 Liam HeathJon Schofield 31.584K-2 500 mMen's K-2 500 m A final results. – Retrieved 22 August 2010. 20 August 20 August 22 August Raman PiatrushenkaVadzim Makhneu 1:29.230 Fernando PimentaJoão Ribeiro 1:29.970 Duško StanojevićDejan Pajić 1:30.418K-2 1000 mMen's K-2 1000 m A al results. – Retrieved 21 August 2010. 19 August 19 August 21 August Martin HollsteinAndreas Ihle 3:13.024 Zoltán KammererÁkos Vereckei 3:13.204 Ilya MedvedevAnton Ryakhov 3:15.736K-4 1000mMen's K-4 1000 m A final results. – Retrieved 21 August 2010. 19 August 19 August 21 August Arnaud HyboisÉtienne HubertSébastien JouvePhilippe Colin 2:54.103 Raman PiatrushenkaAliaksei AbalmasauArtur LitvinchukVadzim Makhneu 2:55.843 Ondřej HorskýJan SoučekDaniel HavelJan Štěrba 2:56.023

Women's Non-Olympic classes

Canoe The first women's event was won by Canada's Laurence Vincent-Lapointe.

EventHeatsSemifinalsFinal Gold Time Silver Time Bronze TimeC-1 200 mWomen's C-1 200 m A final results. – Retrieved 22 August 2010. 21 August 21 August 22 August 48.188 48.992 51.724

Kayak Hungary was the big medal winner, medaling in all nine events including six golds. The big individual winner was Natasa Janics of Hungary with five (three gold, two silver). Her teammate Katalin Kovács, won three medals to bring her career total to 38, matching that of Germany's Birgit Fischer though Kovacs did break Fischer's career gold medal count to 29, eclipsing Fischer's 28. Japan earned their first medal at the championships with Shinobu Kitamoto's bronze in the K-1 200 m event. Rachel Cawthorn became the first British woman to medal at the championships with her bronze in the K-1 500 m event.

EventHeatsSemifinalsFinal Gold Time Silver Time Bronze TimeK-1 200 mWomen's K-1 200 m A final results. – Retrieved 22 August 2010. 21 August 21 August 22 August 40.181 40.797 40.917K-1 500 mWomen's K-1 500 m A final results. – Retrieved 22 August 2010. 20 August 20 August 22 August 1:50.461 1:50.625 1:50.929K-1 1000 mWomen's K-1 1000 m A final results. – Retrieved 21 August 2010. 19 August 19 August 21 August 3:57.544 4:00.124 4:00.280K-1 5000 mWomen's K-1 5000 m A final results. – Retrieved 21 August 2010. NA NA 21 August 22:44.927 22:53.079 23:07.683K-1 4 × 200 m relayWomen's K-1 4 x 200 m relay A final results. – Retrieved 22 August 2010. 22 August NA 22 August Nicole ReinhardtConny WaßmuthTina DietzeKatrin Wagner-Augustin 2:50.315 Nataša JanićZomilla HegyiNinetta VadTímea Paksy 2:52.211 Natalia LobovaAnastasia SergeevaNatalia ProskurinaAnastasia Panchenko 2:52.959K-2 200 mWomen's K-2 200 m A final results. – Retrieved 22 August 2010. 21 August 21 August 22 August Katalin KovácsNataša Janić 36.886 Marta WalczykiewiczEwelina Wojnarowska 37.766 Ivana KmeťováMartina Kohlová 37.778K-2 500 mWomen's K-2 500 m A final results. – Retrieved 22 August 2010. 20 August 20 August 22 August Gabriella SzabóDanuta Kozák 1:40.064 Juliana SalakhovaAnastasia Sergeeva 1:41.628 Yvonne SchuringViktoria Schwarz 1:42.684K-2 1000 mWomen's K-2 1000 m A final results. – Retrieved 21 August 2010. 19 August 19 August 21 August Gabriella SzabóTamara Csipes 3:34.306 Carolin LeonhardtSilke Hörmann 3:37.426 Juliana SalakhovaAnastasia Sergeeva 3:37.554K-4 500 mWomen's K-4 500 m A final results. – Retrieved 22 August 2010. 20 August 20 August 22 August Nataša JanićTamara CsipesKatalin KovácsDalma Benedek 1:31.607 Fanny FischerNicole ReinhardtKatrin Wagner-AugustinTina Dietze 1:32.795 Karolina NajaAneta KoniecznaSandra PawelczakMagdalena Krukowska 1:33.815

Paracanoe