Yuriy Volodymyrovych Cheban is a retired Ukrainian sprint canoeist. He is the 2012 and 2016 Olympic champion in C-1 200 metres.
Attila Vajda is a Hungarian sprint canoeist who has competed since the early 2000s. Competing in three Summer Olympics he has won two medals in the C-1 1000 m event with a gold in 2008 and a bronze in 2004.
György "Kolo" Kolonics was a Hungarian sprint canoeist who won two gold and two bronze medals at four Summer Olympics. He also won a record fifteen gold medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships. He died from cardiac arrest while preparing for his fifth Olympics.
Nikolay Petkov Bukhalov is Bulgaria's most successful ever sprint canoeist. He competed mostly in the Canadian canoe C-1 event though he did win world championship medals in the C-4 events.
Ledis Frank Balceiro Pajon is a Cuban sprint canoeist who competed from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s.
Kenneth Maxwell Wallace, is an Australian sprint canoeist who has competed since the mid-2000s, winning gold at the 2008 Summer Olympics and at several World Championships.
Alan Blair Thompson is a sprint canoeist who competed in the early to mid-1980s. He competed at three Olympic Games (1980–1988) and won two Olympic gold medals for New Zealand.
Danuta Kozák is a Hungarian sprint canoeist. She has won one silver, one bronze and six Olympic gold medals, three of which in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, making her the only female to win K1, K2 and K4 at the same Olympics. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, she won a gold medal in Women's K-4 500 metres, and bronze medal in Women's K-2 500 metres.
Marcel Renaud was a French sprint and slalom canoeist who competed in the 1940s and the 1950s. Competing in two Summer Olympics, he won a silver medal in the C-2 10000 m event at Melbourne in 1956. Renaud also won a bronze medal in the K-4 1000 m at the 1954 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships at Mâcon. In canoe slalom, he won a gold medal in the C-1 team event at the 1949 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in Geneva.
Mark de Jonge is a Canadian male sprint canoeist, primarily specializing the 200 m kayak event. De Jonge won a bronze medal in the K-1 200 m at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. He is the two time reigning world champion in same event having also won a silver medal at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in 2013. He is also the current Pan American champion in the 200 having won gold in Toronto at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, where he also won an additional bronze, and a silver and bronze at previous editions of the Pan Am Games. He was named the Air Canada Athlete of the Year in 2015 for Canada.
Sebastian Brendel is a German sprint canoeist who has competed since 2007. Brendel is the 2016 Olympic champion in the C-1 1000 metres and C-2 1000 metres events.
Vadim Menkov is an Uzbek male sprint canoeist who has competed since the late 2000s. He has won six medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships with two golds, a silver and two bronze. Most recently, Menkov won the gold medal in the sprint C1-1000m event in canoeing at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.
Marcus Gross is a German canoeist who has competed since the late 2000s.
Fernando Ismael Fernandes Pimenta is a Portuguese sprint canoeist who has won multiple medals at the Olympic Games, World and European championships. At club level, he represents Benfica.
Daniel Havel is a Czech sprint canoeist who has competed since the late 2000s. He is a two-time Olympic bronze medalist.
Erlon de Souza Silva is a Brazilian sprint canoeist who competes in the 1000 m doubles event (C-2). He placed tenth at the 2012 Olympics and won a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Games. He won two more silver medals at the 2011 and 2015 Pan American Games and became a world champion in 2015.
Brazil competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the nation's twenty-third appearance at the Summer Olympics, having competed in all editions of the modern era from 1920 onwards, except the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam.
The men's C-1 1000 metres sprint canoeing event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 6 and 7 August 2021 at the Sea Forest Waterway. At least 12 canoeists from at least 12 nations competed.
The men's C-2 1000 metres sprint canoeing event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 2 and 3 August 2021 at the Sea Forest Waterway. 28 canoeists from 14 nations competed.
Jacky Jamael Nascimento Godmann is a Brazilian canoeist. His family has a tradition in the sport, with uncle Vilson Nascimento winning a two medals in the 2007 Pan American Games, and his aunt Valdenice do Nascimento getting a bronze medal in the 2015 edition. He competed in the men's C-2 1000 metres event at the 2020 Summer Olympics alongside Isaquias Queiroz as a replacement for Queiroz's usual partner Erlon Silva, finishing in fourth place. In the same C-1 1000 meters race that Queiroz got the gold medal, Godmann went to the quarterfinals.
