The 2006

ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships The ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships are an international event in canoe racing, one of two Summer Olympic sport events organized by the International Canoe Federation (the other being the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships). The World Cham ...

were held in

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also other alternative names) is the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat of Csongrád-Csanád county. The University of Szeged is one of the m ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

, from August 17 to 20 2006. This was the second time the Hungarian city had hosted the championships, doing so previously in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

. Men race as individuals, pairs and quads over 200 m, 500 m and 1000 m in both Canoe (Canadian) (C) and Kayak (K) events, giving a total of 18 gold medals. Women compete for only 9 gold medals as they race in kayak events only. This was the 35th championships in canoe sprint.

Highlights

Host nation Hungary won twelve of the twenty-seven gold medals.

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, who had topped the medal table in Zagreb in 2005, took four golds, as did

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. Hungary's medal haul included victories in all nine women's finals,

Natasa Janics Natasa Dusev-Janics ( sr-Latn, Nataša Dušev-Janić, sr-Cyrl, Наташа Душев-Јанић; born 24 June 1982) is a Hungarian Canoe sprint, sprint canoer who has competed for Hungary since 2001 and has won six Olympic medals in the spri ...

and

Katalin Kovács Katalin Kovács (born 29 February 1976) is a Hungarian sprint canoer. She competed in the 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics and won eight medals, with three golds (K-2 500 m: 2004, 2008, K-4 500 m: 2012) and five silvers (K-2 500 m: 2000, 2 ...

winning six titles each. In the men's races, Mexican

Everardo Cristóbal José Everardo Cristóbal Quirino (born August 11, 1986 in Urandén, Michoacán) is a Mexican sprint canoeist who has been competing since 2005. His first successful international performance was in 2006, when he won the silver medal in ...

shocked the top Europeans with victory in the C-1 1000 m final, giving Mexico their first-ever world championship gold medal. The K-1 1000 m, the Blue Riband event, was won by Markus Oscarsson of Sweden. Germany's

Ronald Rauhe Ronald Rauhe (born 3 October 1981) is a German sprint canoeist who has competed since 1997. Competing in six Summer Olympics, he won a complete set of medals in the K-2 500 m event (gold: 2004, silver: 2008, bronze: 2000). Rauhe has won 16 world ...

won three gold medals to give him a career total of ten. Hungarian György Kolonics, who holds the (men's) record for paddlers currently in competition, won the fourteenth gold medal of his career in the C-2 1000 m final. Russia's Maxim Opalev won his eleventh title. Other perennial favourites such as

Andreas Dittmer Andreas Dittmer (born 16 April 1972 in Neustrelitz, Bezirk Neubrandenburg) is a German sprint canoeist. The dominant sprint canoeist of his generation in 1000 m races, he has won three Olympic and eight world championship gold medals. Dittmer ...

, Eirik Verås Larsen and Adam van Koeverden however were unable to repeat previous successes. Germany won their first-ever C-4 title (1000 m). In the men's K-4 races, however, no German boats made the podium - the first time that had happened since

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

. Special mention should also go to the

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

Petr Procházka, the oldest man at the championships, who took gold in the C-4 200 m final.

Medal summary

Men's

Non-Olympic classes

Canoe

Kayak

Women's

Non-Olympic classes

Kayak

Medal table

References

Medal tableResults of Flatwater Racing World Championships

International Canoe FederationFinal A videoPhotos
{{DEFAULTSORT:2006 Icf Canoe Sprint World Championships

Canoe sprint Canoe sprint is a water sport in which athletes race canoes or kayaks on calm water. Overview Race categories vary by the number of athletes in the boat, the length of the course, and whether the boat is a canoe or kayak. Canoe sprints are s ...

ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships International sports competitions hosted by Hungary Canoeing in Hungary