The women's kayak cross event at the 2026 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships took place on 25 July 2026 at the RIVERSPORT OKC in Oklahoma City, with the qualification time trial on 20 July 2026.
Competition format The kayak cross event is split into two phases – qualification time trials and knockout phase where 3 or 4 paddlers race each other head-to-head. Top 42 paddlers from the individual time trial (which is a medal event in itself) advance to the knockout phase.
Paddlers start their run by sliding off the starting platform several meters above the water. Then they must navigate the downstream and upstream gates. Unlike in classic slalom, paddlers are allowed to touch the gates and even intentionally move them with their paddle, but not with a free hand. There is also a designated zone where paddlers must perform an Eskimo roll.
Athletes can be penalized in three ways in each round, by receiving a fault (FLT) or by being ranked as lower (RAL). Faults are incurred for false starts, missing gates or failing to correctly perform the Eskimo roll. Athletes are ranked as lower (RAL) if they breach the safety requirements of the competition, such as by holding back another athlete with their hands or paddle, deliberately paddling over another athlete's boat, or by making dangerous contact with another athlete's head or body - all other non-dangerous contact is allowed. In each round athletes are ranked first by the order in which they cross the finish line, with those incurring penalties ranked in the following order: FLT, RAL, , .
The final classification of athletes is determined in the following manner: Athletes eliminated at any phase of the competition will be given their rank based on the comparison of the qualification times of athletes eliminated at the same phase. All 3rd ranked athletes will be ranked above all 4th ranked athletes.
Schedule
All times listed are UTC–5.
Date Time Round 20 July 2026 11:06 Time trial25 July 2026 10:04 Round 1 11:21 Repechage round 13:34 Heats 15:05 Quarterfinals 15:44 Semifinals 16:08 Small final 16:20 Final
Results
Time trial
2026 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships – Women's kayak cross individual
Round 1
Top 2 from each race advance to the heats. The rest go to repechage.
Proceed to heats Proceed to repechage
+ Race 1 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 1 Jessica Fox 2 33 Aki Yazawa 3 12 Alena Marx
+ Race 2 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 13 Andrea Herzog 2 2 Kateřina Beková 3 32 Kseniia Krylova
+ Race 3 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 3 Lois Leaver 2 14 Omira Estácia Neta 3 42 Anastassiya Ananyeva 4 31 Chen Lin FLT (S)
+ Race 4 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 4 Miren Lazkano 2 15 Dominika Brzeska 3 41 Florencia Aguirre González 4 30 Ada Mackie
+ Race 5 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 5 Camille Prigent 2 16 Klaudia Zwolińska 3 40 Lena Teunissen 4 29 Cleo Pitcher Farrell
+ Race 6 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 6 Ricarda Funk 2 28 Svenja Matti 3 17 Evy Leibfarth 4 39 Kahlia Cullwick RAL
+ Race 7 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 27 Viktoriia Us 2 7 Laia Sorribes 3 38 Mine Onozawa 4 18 Eliška Mintálová FLT (3)
+ Race 8 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 8 Kimberley Woods 2 26 Nikita Setchell 3 19 Ana Sátila 4 37 Isabella Altman
+ Race 9 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 25 Lois Betteridge 2 9 Soňa Stanovská 3 36 Marcella Altman 4 20 Li Shiting
+ Race 10 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 21 Zuzana Paňková 2 10 Maialen Chourraut 3 24 Xu Linxi 4 35 Wu Ting-i
+ Race 11 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 23 Marjorie Delassus 2 34 Annkatrin Plochmann 3 11 Noemie Fox FLT (3) 4 22 Olga Samková FLT (3)
Repechage
Top 2 from each race advance to the heats. The rest are eliminated.
Proceed to heats Eliminated
+ Race 1 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 11 Noemie Fox 2 20 Li Shiting 3 42 Anastassiya Ananyeva 4 37 Isabella Altman
+ Race 2 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 12 Alena Marx 2 22 Olga Samková 3 36 Marcella Altman 4 41 Florencia Aguirre González FLT (3, 4)
+ Race 3 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 17 Evy Leibfarth 2 24 Xu Linxi 3 35 Wu Ting-i 4 40 Lena Teunissen FLT (1)
+ Race 4 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 32 Kseniia Krylova 2 39 Kahlia Cullwick 3 29 Cleo Pitcher Farrell 4 18 Eliška Mintálová
+ Race 5 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 19 Ana Sátila 2 31 Chen Lin 3 30 Ada Mackie 4 38 Mine Onozawa
Heats
Top 2 from each race advance to the quarterfinals. The rest are eliminated.
Proceed to quarterfinals Eliminated
+ Race 1 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 1 Jessica Fox 2 32 Kahlia Cullwick FLT (6) 3 16 Omira Estácia Neta FLT (2) 4 17 Dominika Brzeska FLT (1)
+ Race 2 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 24 Alena Marx 2 8 Zuzana Paňková 3 9 Marjorie Delassus 4 25 Evy Leibfarth RAL
+ Race 3 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 5 Ricarda Funk 2 12 Kateřina Beková 3 21 Aki Yazawa FLT (6) 4 28 Li Shiting FLT (3)
+ Race 4 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 13 Laia Sorribes 2 29 Olga Samková 3 20 Svenja Matti 4 4 Camille Prigent FLT (3)
+ Race 5 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 14 Soňa Stanovská 2 3 Miren Lazkano 3 30 Xu Linxi 4 19 Nikita Setchell
+ Race 6 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 11 Viktoriia Us 2 6 Kimberley Woods 3 27 Kseniia Krylova 4 22 Annkatrin Plochmann
+ Race 7 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 7 Andrea Herzog 2 23 Noemie Fox 3 10 Lois Betteridge 4 26 Ana Sátila
+ Race 8 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 2 Lois Leaver 2 18 Klaudia Zwolińska 3 31 Chen Lin 4 15 Maialen Chourraut
Quarterfinals
Top 2 from each race advance to the semifinals. The rest are eliminated.
Proceed to semifinals Eliminated
+ Race 1 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 24 Alena Marx 2 8 Zuzana Paňková 3 32 Kahlia Cullwick 4 1 Jessica Fox FLT (2)
+ Race 2 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 29 Olga Samková 2 5 Ricarda Funk 3 12 Kateřina Beková 4 13 Laia Sorribes
+ Race 3 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 3 Miren Lazkano 2 14 Soňa Stanovská 3 11 Viktoriia Us 4 6 Kimberley Woods
+ Race 4 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 2 Lois Leaver 2 23 Noemie Fox 3 7 Andrea Herzog 4 18 Klaudia Zwolińska FLT (2)
Semifinals
Top 2 from each race advance to the final. The rest go to the small final.
Proceed to final Proceed to small final
+ Race 1 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 5 Ricarda Funk 2 24 Alena Marx 3 29 Olga Samková 4 8 Zuzana Paňková
+ Race 2 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 23 Noemie Fox 2 3 Miren Lazkano 3 2 Lois Leaver 4 14 Soňa Stanovská
Small final
Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 2 Lois Leaver 2 29 Olga Samková 3 14 Soňa Stanovská 4 8 Zuzana Paňková FLT (6)
Final
Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 24 Alena Marx 23 Noemie Fox 3 Miren Lazkano 4 5 Ricarda Funk RAL
Final ranking (Top 42)
The top 42 ranking determined by the knockout rounds.
RankAthleteCountryHeat rank Alena Marx 1 Noemie Fox 2 Miren Lazkano 3 4 Ricarda Funk 4 (RAL) 5 Lois Leaver 1 6 Olga Samková 2 7 Soňa Stanovská 3 8 Zuzana Paňková 4 9 Andrea Herzog QF4 (3) 10 Viktoriia Us QF3 (3) 11 Kateřina Beková QF2 (3) 12 Kahlia Cullwick QF1 (3) 13 Jessica Fox QF1 (4) 14 Kimberley Woods QF3 (4) 15 Laia Sorribes QF2 (4) 16 Klaudia Zwolińska QF4 (4) 17 Marjorie Delassus H2 (3) 18 Lois Betteridge H7 (3) 19 Omira Estácia Neta H1 (3) 20 Svenja Matti H4 (3) 21 Aki Yazawa H3 (3) 22 Kseniia Krylova H6 (3) 23 Xu Linxi H5 (3) 24 Chen Lin H8 (3) 25 Camille Prigent H4 (4) 26 Maialen Chourraut H8 (4) 27 Dominika Brzeska H1 (4) 28 Nikita Setchell H5 (4) 29 Annkatrin Plochmann H6 (4) 30 Evy Leibfarth H2 (RAL) 31 Ana Sátila H7 (4) 32 Li Shiting H3 (4) 33 Cleo Pitcher Farrell RE (3) 34 Ada Mackie RE (3) 35 Wu Ting-i RE (3) 36 Marcella Altman RE (3) 37 Anastassiya Ananyeva RE (3) 38 Eliška Mintálová RE (4) 39 Isabella Altman RE (4) 40 Mine Onozawa RE (4) 41 Lena Teunissen RE (4) 42 Florencia Aguirre González RE (4)
References