Canoe slalom is a competitive sport with the aim to navigate a decked canoe or kayak through a course of hanging downstream or upstream gates on river rapids in the fastest time possible. It is one of the two kayak and canoeing disciplines at the Summer Olympics, and is referred to by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as Canoe/Kayak Slalom. The other Olympic canoeing discipline is canoe sprint. Wildwater canoeing is a non-Olympic paddlesport.
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 World Championships have taken place every non-Olympic year since 1970 and officially included paracanoe events since 2010; since 2012, paracanoe-specific editions of this event have been held in Summer Paralympic years.
At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, seven events in sprint canoe racing were contested, and for the first time at the Olympic Games, four events in slalom canoeing were also contested, at the Augsburg Eiskanal.
The 1987 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships were held in Duisburg, West Germany for the second time. The West German city hosted the championships previously in 1979.
Alexander Grimm is a German slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2002.
The 1957 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships were held in Augsburg, West Germany under the auspices of International Canoe Federation. It was the 5th edition. The Mixed C2 team event debuted at these championships.
The 1959 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships were held in Geneva, Switzerland under the auspices of International Canoe Federation for the second time. It was the 6th edition. The mixed C2 team event was not held at these championships after taking place in the previous one. The Swiss city hosted the championships previously in 1949.
The 1961 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships were held in Hainsberg, East Germany under the auspices of International Canoe Federation. It was the 7th edition. The women's folding K1 team event was not held at these championships after taking place in the previous one.
The 1969 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships were held in Bourg St.-Maurice, France under the auspices of International Canoe Federation. It was the 11th edition. The mixed C2 team event returned for the third and final time after not being held at the previous championships. East Germany, having one medals at every occasion since 1951, didn't take part because of political reasons.
The 1985 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships were held between 12 and 16 June 1985 in Augsburg, West Germany under the auspices of International Canoe Federation for the second time. Augsburg hosted the event previously in 1957. It was the 19th edition. It also marked the first time the championships took place on an artificial whitewater slalom course at the Eiskanal and the first to be held at an Olympic venue. The Eiskanal previously hosted the slalom canoeing events at the 1972 Summer Olympics held in neighboring Munich.
The 2002 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships were held in Bourg St.-Maurice, France under the auspices of International Canoe Federation for the record-tying third time. It was the 27th edition. Bourg St.-Maurice hosted the championships previously in 1969 and 1987, and matches the times hosted by Spittal, Austria and Meran, Italy. Beginning at these championships, this event would be held on an annual basis in non-Summer Olympic years. The 2001 championships were scheduled to take place in Ducktown, Tennessee in September that year on the canoe slalom course used for the 1996 Summer Olympics in neighboring Atlanta, but were cancelled in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
The 2005 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships were held in Penrith, New South Wales, Australia at the Penrith Whitewater Stadium under the auspices of International Canoe Federation. It was the 29th edition. This marked the first time the events took place on the Australian continent on the venue that hosted the slalom canoeing event for the 2000 Summer Olympics in neighboring Sydney.
The 2006 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships were held in Prague, Czech Republic between 2-6 August 2006 under the auspices of International Canoe Federation at the Prague-Troja Canoeing Centre. It was the 30th edition. Prague became the second city to host both the slalom and sprint world championships, having hosted the latter in 1958 when Prague was part of Czechoslovakia. Nottingham, Great Britain was the first, hosting the slalom world championships in 1995 and the sprint world championships in 1981.
For the 1972 Summer Olympics, a total of thirty-two sports venues were used. A majority of the venues used were new construction in time for the 1972 Games after Munich was awarded the Games in 1966. Kiel Bay was the only venue from the 1936 Summer Olympics to be used for the 1972 Games. A stretch of the Autobahn near Munich was used for cycling's road team time trial event. After the Olympics, Olympiastadion hosted the final of the FIFA World Cup less than two years later. Augsburg's Eiskanal has served as host to three Canoe Slalom World Championships while the shooting range hosted the World Shooting Championships 2010. Olympiapark was part of Munich's bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics.
The ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup is an annual season-long series of top level races in canoe slalom held under the auspices of the International Canoe Federation. It has been held since 1988 in four canoe and kayak disciplines for men and women. The four original disciplines were men's single canoe (C1), men's double canoe (C2), men's kayak (K1) and women's kayak. A women's single canoe discipline (C1) has been added to the world cup in 2010. The men's C2 event was removed from the world cup series in 2018 and it was replaced by the mixed C2 event. The mixed C2 event only lasted for one season, however. 2018 was also the first time that world cup points were awarded for the kayak cross.
The 2017 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships was the 38th edition of the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships. The event took place from 22 September to 1 October 2017 in Pau, France under the auspices of International Canoe Federation (ICF) at the Pau-Pyrénées Whitewater Stadium. Pau was also hosting the Wildwater Canoeing World Championships as part of the same event.
The 2018 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships were the 39th edition of the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships. The event took place from 25 to 30 September 2018 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil under the auspices of International Canoe Federation (ICF). The competitions were held at the Deodoro Olympic Whitewater Stadium which had also hosted the canoe slalom events of the 2016 Summer Olympics.
The 2019 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, the 45th edition of the World Championships, were held in Szeged, Hungary from 21 to 25 August 2019.
The 2022 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships took place from 26 to 31 July 2022 in Augsburg, Germany under the auspices of International Canoe Federation (ICF). It was the 42nd edition. The events took place at the Augsburg Eiskanal. Augsburg hosted the championships for the fourth time after previously hosting in 1957, 1985 and 2003.
Michal Martikán (SVK)
Tony Estanguet (FRA)
Stefan Pfannmöller (GER)
Czech Republic 
Poland 
David Ford (CAN)
Helmut Oblinger (AUT)
Switzerland 
Netherlands 
Rebecca Giddens (USA)
United Kingdom 
