2009 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships
The 2009 International Canoe Federation Canoe Sprint World Championships were held 12–16 August 2009 in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, on Lake Banook. The Canadian city was selected to host the championships in October 2003 after having done so previously in 1997. Final preparations were made after the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, with competition format changed for the first time since the 2001 championships. Four exhibition events for both paddleability and women's canoe were added. Sponsorship was local within the province of Nova Scotia and the Halifax Regional Municipality. Media coverage was provided from Canada, Europe and the United States on the Internet, television and mobile phone. 669 canoeists from 68 nations participated at the championships themselves.
Germany won the most medals with 18 medals and seven golds. Men's canoe's overall winner was Russia with seven medals. In men's kayak, the big winner was Germany with five medals. Hungary won medals in all nine events of women's kayak. Athlete comments ranged from disgust over the format adjustment made to the canoe sprint program for the 2012 Summer Olympics to not being upset at all. Paddleability's success at these championships will hopefully push for inclusion into future Paralympic level events.
Women's Canoe events were introduced for the first time at an ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in 2009 as exhibition events.
Explanation of events
competitions are broken up into canoe, an open canoe with a single-blade paddle, or in kayaks, a closed canoe with a double-bladed paddle. Each canoe or kayak can hold one person, two people, or four people. For each of the specific canoes or kayaks, such as a K-1, 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
Dartmouth was awarded the 2009 championships at an ICF Board of Directors meeting in Madrid, Spain, on 23 October 2003.Event format changes
At the 2008 ICF Congress in Rome, a new program for the championships was approved. This marked the first change in the program since the addition of the K-4 1000 m women's event at the 2001 championships in Poznań. Men's C-4 500 m, men's K-4 500 m, women's K-4 1000 m events were replaced by C-1 4 × 200 m relay and K-1 4 × 200 m relay. Women's C-1 200 m, C-1 500 m, C-2 200 m and C-2 500 m events were shown as exhibition. Paddleability exhibition events of K-1 200 m LTA, K-2 200 m TA&A, and C-2 200 m LTA&A also took place. Support for women's Canadian and the paddle ability events were confirmed at an ICF Board of Directors meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 18–20 March 2009. A training camp was held for women's canoe in conjunction with the championships.Official meetings
In January 2009, ICF Secretary General Simon Toulson visited Halifax for three days and was impressed with the history of canoeing in the area and the development of future canoeists for Canada. Two public meetings were held in Dartmouth and Halifax on 24 and 26 March regarding the championships.Facility
During the end of 2008, Lake Banook had its canoe course upgraded by Dexter Construction Limited. Water that had been pumped out of lake ceased on 15 December 2008, allowing the lake to rise back to its regular level by February 2009. Cleanup, restoration and landscaping was completed in the spring of 2009. By May 2009, this construction included new concrete abutments at the,,, and finish points, debris and abutment cleanup, ten new lane wires, four new cross wires, and 800 new buoys. Starting gates were tested during the second national team trials held at the lake on 27–28 June 2009. Temporary grandstands for 20,000 spectators per day were also constructed.Additional changes were for environmental reasons. This included the Halifax Regional Water Commission, Conserve Nova Scotia, and Nova Scotia Environment providing water stations for athletes, spectators and volunteers to fill up reusable water bottles which were purchased on site. It eliminated 100,000 disposable bottles and of plastic waste. Dalhousie University's residence halls used energy efficient lighting and cleaning products. The university's cafeteria eliminated the use of trays, lessening food waste, energy consumption and daily water usage by. A buy local policy and delivery truck that ran entirely on vegetable oil fuel was also used.
According to a 10 August 2009 press release, the staging area was at Birch Cove Park in Halifax. 669 from 68 countries competed at the championships with an estimated 100,000 spectators.
Sponsorships
The Atlantic Lottery Corporation presented the "Women in Canoe" program that included 21 female canoeists from 12 different countries. Festival entertainment was sponsored by the Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation, including a "Concert on the Lake" by Matt Mays on 14 August that drew 10,000 spectators. Other sponsors include Bell Aliant as presenters, silver sponsors were The Chronicle Herald of Halifax, CFRQ Q104 FM radio, CBC Sports and the Halifax Water Authority; the bronze sponsors were NOREX, Helly Hansen, Conserve Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia environment, Mills fashion and NELO; government sponsorship of Department of Canadian Heritage, Nova Scotia Health Promotion and Protection, and the Halifax Regional Municipality; other supporters of Mic Mac Mall, CBS Outdoor, Metro Transit of Halifax, and Office Interiors; and friends of Ambassadors, Priority Management, KayakPro, the Office of Aboriginal Affairs, and The Cider House Company Limited.Participating nations
68 nations were listed on the preliminary entry list. The numbers in parentheses shown are for men and women who competed for each respective nation.Russia had the most overall attendees with 46 while Canada topped the number of women competing with 16.
The media guide listed 71 nations as participating, but seven nations listed did not compete while four nations who competed were not listed.
The ICF sponsored ten athletes in a development program in Romania in early 2009 that allowed them to compete at the world championships. These countries included Algeria, Armenia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
Coverage
Media coverage was provided by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Sports in Canada, Eurosport, and Universal Sports in the United States. Live results were provided onsite from the official website that was sponsored by Bell Aliant which ran 9 am to 4:30 pm AST on 13 August, 9 AM to 3:55 pm AST on 14 August, 8:44 am to 5:45 pm AST on 15 August 2009, and 8:30 am to 3:46 pm AST on 16 August. Championship information was also available on Twitter. CBC Sports had broadcast times of 2–3 PM AST on 15 August 2009 followed by late night coverage at 12:30 am AST on 16 August 2009 along with coverage on the web at http://www.cbcsports.ca. Universal Sports telecasted the finals for both the 15th and the 16th live and are now seen on demand on their website. A total of 30 million people from 36 countries worldwide watched the event on television.Results were transmitted for free with mobile web application named ZAP result. This mobile widget was developed by Norex.ca.
Schedule
Opening and closing ceremonies
Opening ceremonies took place at 8 pm AST on 12 August. 10,000 people watched 68 countries participate in the opening ceremonies that included Canoe'09 chair Chris Keevill, ICF President José Perurena, and Sport Canada minister Gary Lunn. The Concert on the Lake took place at 8 pm AST on 14 August with over 10,000 attendees. Closing ceremonies occurred on 16 August at 4 pm AST. Medals were presented in Mi'kmaq baskets for gold medalists, traditional European baskets for silver medalists, and in traditional African Nova Scotian baskets for bronze medalists. Mi'kmaq is a territory in the Atlantic Provinces of Canada prior to the settlement by the French in the 17th century. The settlement was rotated between the French and British between 1627 and 1755 before the British took over the area after the French and Indian War. Africans settled in Nova Scotia during the Atlantic slave trade that ran from the 16th to 19th centuries. The closing ceremonies on 16 August included passing the ICF flag from Dartmouth to the 2010 world championship hosts in Poznań.Festival performances
Festivals for all four days started 30 minutes before the first race and ended 30 minutes after the last race each day. Live entertainment took place each of the days along with vendors, displays and exhibits. Boating safety was discussed along with interactive exhibits on canoe construction and allowing to touch live animals from around the world, including tarantulas and a -long python.Competition schedule
Men's canoe
Men's kayak
Women's kayak
Women's canoe (exhibition)
Paddleability (exhibition)
Results
The preliminary draw was released on 9 August. This was updated again on 11 August.Men's
Non-Olympic classesCanoe
Russia was the top winner with seven medals with Nikolay Lipkin winning five medals. Belarus won three gold medals. Azerbaijan won a complete set of medals in the canoe discipline while Uzbekistan won its first ever gold medal at the championships.| Event | Gold | Time | Silver | Time | Bronze | Time |
| C-1 200 m | 39.048 | 39.234 | 39.978 | |||
| C-1 500 m | 1:49.723 | 1:49.750 | 1:50.714 | |||
| C-1 1000 m | 3:55.497 | 3:56.047 | 4:00.215 | |||
| C-1 4 × 200 m relay | Russia Yevgeniy Ignatov Nikolay Lipkin Viktor Melantev Ivan Shtyl | 2:49.838 | Hungary Attila Bozsil László Foltán Gábor Horváth Attila Vajda | 2:51.977 | France Mathieu Goubel Thomas Simart William Tchamba Bertrand Hemonic | 2:52.455 |
| C-2 200 m | Lithuania Tomas Gadeikis Raimundas Labuckas | 36.433 | Russia Yevgeniy Ignatov Ivan Shtyl | 36.753 | Germany Stefan Holtz Robert Nuck | 37.085 |
| C-2 500 m | Germany Stefan Holtz Robert Nuck | 1:41.310 | Russia Yevgeniy Ignatov Ivan Shtyl | 1:41.782 | Azerbaijan Sergey Bezugliy Maksim Prokopenko | 1:42.660 |
| C-2 1000 m | Germany Erik Leue Tomasz Wylenzek | 3:37.380 | Azerbaijan Sergey Bezugliy Maksim Prokopenko | 3:37.462 | Russia Nikolay Lipkin Viktor Melantev | 3:38.758 |
| C-4 200 m | Belarus Aliaksandr Bahdanovich Dzmitry Rabchanka Aliaksandr Vauchetski Dzmitry Vaitsishkin | 34.147 | Russia Aleksandr Kostoglod Nikolay Lipkin Viktor Melantev Sergey Ulegin | 34.499 | Hungary Attila Bozsil László Foltán Gábor Horváth Gergo Nemeth | 35.235 |
| C-4 1000 m | Belarus Dzianis Harazha Dzmitry Rabchanka Dzmitry Vaitsishkin Aliaksandr Vauchetski | 3:21.595 | Germany Chris Wend Thomas Lück Erik Rebstock Ronald Verch | 3:22.141 | Romania Cătălin Costache Silviu Simioncencu Iosif Chirila Andrei Cuculici | 3:23.733 |
Kayak
Germany won five medals in the men's kayak. Ronald Rauhe's three medals for Germany at these championships pushed his career total to 20, tying him with Torsten Gutsche. Belarus won four golds with Vadzim Makhneu and Raman Piatrushenka each winning four of those golds.| Event | Gold | Time | Silver | Time | Bronze | Time |
| K-1 200 m | 35.134 | 35.650 | 35.696 | |||
| K-1 500 m | 1:37.605 | 1:37.679 | 1:38.225 | |||
| K-1 1000 m | 3:29.425 | 3:30.976 | 3:31.285 | |||
| K-1 4 × 200 m relay | Spain Francisco Llera Saúl Craviotto Carlos Pérez Ekaitz Saies | 2:27.422 | Germany Norman Bröckl Jonas Ems Torsten Lubisch Ronald Rauhe | 2:28.530 | France Guillaume Burger Arnaud Hybois Sébastien Jouve Jean Baptiste Lutz | 2:29.614 |
| K-2 200 m | Belarus Vadzim Makhneu Raman Piatrushenka | 32.229 | Spain Saúl Craviotto Carlos Pérez | 32.231 | Canada Andrew Willows Richard Dober, Jr. | 32.653 |
| K-2 500 m | Belarus Vadzim Makhneu Raman Piatrushenka | 1:29.408 | Hungary Zoltán Kammerer Gábor Kucsera | 1:29.695 | Germany Hendrick Bertz Marcus Gross | 1:30.372 |
| K-2 1000 m | Spain Emilio Merchan Diego Cosgaya | 3:14.610 | Australia David Smith Luke Morrison | 3:15.809 | Cuba Reiner Torres Carlos Montalvo | 3:16.071 |
| K-4 200 m | Belarus Vadzim Makhneu Raman Piatrushenka Dziamyan Turchyn Taras Valko | 30.412 | Slovakia Juraj Tarr Erik Vlček Richard Riszdorfer Michal Riszdorfer | 30.525 | Russia Alexander Dyachenko Sergey Khovanskiy Stepan Shevchuk Roman Zarubin | 30.608 |
| K-4 1000 m | Belarus Vadzim Makhneu Artur Litvinchuk Raman Piatrushenka Aliaksei Abalmasau | 2:57.437 | France Guillaume Burger Vincent Lecrubier Philippe Colin Sébastien Jouve | 2:58.022 | Slovakia Juraj Tarr Erik Vlček Richard Riszdorfer Michal Riszdorfer | 2:58.593 |
Women's
Non-Olympic classesKayak
Hungary medaled in all nine events with Natasa Janics and Katalin Kovacs each winning five medals. Kovacs' five medals pushed her total medal count to 35, three behind Birgit Fischer's 38. Bridgette Hartley's bronze medal in the K-1 1000 m event was the first for both South Africa and Africa at the world championships. Josefa Idem's bronze in the K-1 500 m event makes her the oldest medalist in the history of the championships.| Event | Gold | Time | Silver | Time | Bronze | Time |
| K-1 200 m | 40.866 | 41.209 | 41.357 | |||
| K-1 500 m | 1:51.149 | 1:51.633 | 1:51.860 | |||
| K-1 1000 m | 3:59.846 | 4:00.429 | 4:00.966 | |||
| K-1 4 × 200 m relay | Germany Fanny Fischer Nicole Reinhardt Katrin Wagner-Augustin Conny Waßmuth | 2:50.806 | Hungary Zomilla Hegyi Krisztina Fazekas Nataša Janić Tímea Paksy | 2:51.756 | Canada Kia Byers Emilie Fournel Genevieve Orton Karen Furneaux | 2:54.638 |
| K-2 200 m | Hungary Nataša Janić Katalin Kovács | 37.508 | Germany Fanny Fischer Nicole Reinhardt | 37.682 | Slovakia Ivana Kmeťová Martina Kohlová | 37.774 |
| K-2 500 m | Hungary Danuta Kozák Gabriella Szabó | 1:41.144 | Germany Fanny Fischer Nicole Reinhardt | 1:42.023 | Sweden Josefin Nordlöw Sofia Paldanius | 1:42.276 |
| K-2 1000 m | Poland Małgorzata Chojnacka Beata Mikołajczyk | 3:40.425 | Germany Tina Dietze Carolin Leonhardt | 3:40.502 | Hungary Dalma Benedek Erika Medveczky | 3:43.020 |
| K-4 200 m | Germany Tina Dietze Carolin Leonhardt Katrin Wagner-Augustin Conny Waßmuth | 35.049 | Hungary Krisztina Fazekas Nataša Janić Katalin Kovács Tímea Paksy | 35.075 | Portugal Beatriz Gomes Helena Rodrigues Teresa Portela Joana Sousa | 35.657 |
| K-4 500 m | Hungary Dalma Benedek Danuta Kozák Nataša Janić Katalin Kovács | 1:33.090 | Germany Tina Dietze Carolin Leonhardt Katrin Wagner-Augustin Nicole Reinhardt | 1:33.094 | Spain Beatriz Manchón Maria Teresa Portela Jana Smidakova Sonia Molanes | 1:34.973 |
Exhibition
Women's canoe
Host nation Canada won all four of the exhibition events. Jenna Marks won three of these events. Other nations with top three finishes included Brazil, Ecuador, Great Britain and the United States.| Event | First | Time | Second | Time | Third | Time |
| C-1 200 m | 56.195 | 58.839 | 1:00.404 | |||
| C-1 500 m | 2:20.762 | 2:29.630 | 2:32.064 | |||
| C-2 200 m | Canada Maria Halavrezos Jenna Marks | 48.399 | Ecuador Maria Belen Ibarra Trivino Mia Cameila Friend Chung | 50.991 | Great Britain Samantha Rippington Lisa Suttle | 51.141 |
| C-2 500 m | Canada Maria Halavrezos Jenna Marks | 2:10.625 | Great Britain Samantha Rippington Lisa Suttle | 2:18.427 | Ecuador Maria Belen Ibarra Trivino Mia Cameila Friend Chung | 2:19.377 |
Paddleability
Italy had four top three finishes to lead all nations in this event while the United States was second with three.| Event | First | Time | Second | Time | Third | Time |
| C-2 200 m LTATA mixed | United States Tami Hetke Augusto Perez | 1:04.070 | Brazil Jose de Oliveiras Rodrigues Carlos Roberto Tavares da Conceicao | 1:04.401 | Italy Benedetto Nucatola Sandra Truccolo | 1:10.113 |
| K-1 200 m LTA men | 54.762 | 56.270 | 57.786 | |||
| K-1 200 m LTA women | 1:08.594 | 1:09.278 | 1:09.898 | |||
| K-2 200 m TAA mixed | Italy Anna Pani Andreas Biagi | 1:05.233 | United States Rebecca Lloyd Mark Dunford | 1:20.235 | Canada Christine Selinger Christopher Pearson | 1:38.217 |