2011 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships

2011 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships
Host cityHungary Szeged, Hungary
Motto"Kayak-canoe, rock & roll"
Nations88
Events37
Opening17 August
Closing21 August
DatesAugust 17–21, 2011
Main venueMaty-ér, Szeged
Websiteszeged2011.com

The 2011 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships was the thirty-ninth edition of the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, that took place between 17 and 21 August 2011 in Szeged, Hungary. The Southern Hungarian city welcomed the world event for the third time, having hosted the championship previously in 1998 and 2006. These championships were awarded initially to Vichy, France,[1] however, the race course on the Allier proved to be inadequate to hold the competition and the French Canoe Federation withdraw from organizing the event,[2] following that Szeged, the original host of the 2013 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, was moved up to 2011.[3]

Originally 94 nations have indicated their intention to participate on the championship,[4] from them 88 registered officially for the competition,[5] which was the main qualification event for the 2012 Summer Olympics, since 176 of the 248 Olympic quotas were distributed in this fixture.[6]

Germany and Russia topped the overall medal count with 11 medals each, and the Central European country won also the tied-most gold medals together with Hungary. The joy of the Germans was only overshadowed by an anthem mishap, as for their first gold medalists, Anne Knorr and Debora Niche the first verse of the national hymn was played, which is associated with the crimes of the Nazis and is not used since 1952. The organizers asked to be excused, which the head of the German Canoe Federation accepted, assuming no intent.[7] Azerbaijani trio Sergiy Bezugliy, Maksim Prokopenko and Valentin Demyanenko collected three medals each in the men's events, while Max Hoff of Germany became the winningest canoeist with two World Championships titles. In the women's competition Hungary's Danuta Kozák was the most successful racer with two gold and a silver medal. Kozák's partner in K-2, Katalin Kovács claimed her thirty-ninth and fortieth World Championship medal and surpassed Birgit Fischer's record of 38.

  1. ^ "Vichy rendezi a 2011-es kajak-kenu vb-t" (in Hungarian). Hungarian Canoe Federation. 18 October 2007. Archived from the original on 9 September 2011. Retrieved 9 August 2011.
  2. ^ "2011 Sprint World Championships to move location". Australian Canoeing. 2 July 2010. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  3. ^ "Szeged rendezheti 2011-ben a kajak-kenu világbajnokságot" (in Hungarian). Hungarian Canoe Federation. 25 July 2010. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 9 August 2011.
  4. ^ "94 Nations Have Entered the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships by MOL". szeged2011.com. 5 August 2011. Archived from the original on 16 October 2011. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  5. ^ "Perurena on the Incredible Development of Our Sport". szeged2011.com. 17 August 2011. Archived from the original on 25 March 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
  6. ^ "10 nap múlva kezdődik a kajak-kenu vb" (in Hungarian). Hungarian Canoe Federation. 7 August 2011. Archived from the original on 9 September 2011. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  7. ^ "Ungarn entschuldigen sich für Hymnen-Panne" (in German). Spiegel Online. 20 August 2011. Retrieved 22 August 2011.