From Wednesday to Sunday this week (20-24 August), the best sprinters in the world are facing off at the biggest competition since last year’s Olympics in Paris: the 2025 Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Championships in Milan, Italy. Many Olympic champions are back to defend their titles of “best in the world”, while others have retired or taken a step back to allow fresh faces to test their mettle in the lead-up to Los Angeles 2028.

Carrington steps up at the last minute, a game changer for NZ

The GOAT herself, Lisa Carrington has been noticeably missing from racing this year after announcing that she was taking a year off from international competitions. It’s probably part of what’s allowed her to pursue new projects like purchasing a women’s basketball team and publishing the Colindar, a calendar featuring photos of her cavoodle (cavapoo) Colin, to raise funds for kiwi conservation. But in a last-minute twist, her name is on the start list for Milan.

Without Carrington, the New Zealand women’s K4 (Olivia Brett / Alicia Hoskin / Tara Vaughan / Lucy Matehaere) has become one of many crews trying new combinations this year and understandably dropped a few positions since winning gold in Paris. It’s still a fast crew though: they finished just off the podium at the Poznan World Cup in May, 0.05 seconds behind Australia in bronze. A few weeks prior, they finished 5th at the Szeged World Cup, about 0.6 seconds ahead of the same Australian crew. Without Carrington, they probably would have been in the mix for a spot on the podium, but not favourites to challenge for the gold in Milan.

But a few weeks ago, K4 crew member and Paris gold medalist in K4 Olivia Brett suffered an injury that took her off the roster for Milan. When she got the call, Carrington stepped up to take her place. With the GOAT back in the boat, the New Zealand K4 will surely be a favourite to medal, though with close competition, it could still be tight for gold.

In an extra twist to the programme, Carrington is also signed up to race K2 with Tara Vaughan. This isn’t a direct replacement for the injured Brett, as Vaughan was racing earlier this year with Carrington’s 2024 Olympic gold medal winning K2 partner Alicia Hoskin (also in the K4). Hoskin / Vaughan didn’t start (DNS) their K2 race in Poznan, and then skipped their B Final in Szeged, so perhaps the additional swap for Carrington is a sign that she’s planning to race K2 again in LA and is taking the chance to try a different partnership. For fans, it’s all good news: more water time (air time) for Lisa Carrington.

Without returning champions, the women’s K1 500m is wide open

As a last-minute substitute in K2 and K4, Carrington will have more than enough to focus on with the crew boats, and has stayed off the K1 start list. But her absence is part of what will make the women’s K1 500m one of the most unpredictable and exciting races of the weekend: none of 2024’s Olympic medallists are racing.

Behind Lisa Carrington in Paris, it was Tamara Csipes (Hungary) with silver and Emma Aastrand Jorgensen (Denmark) with bronze. Jorgensen announced her retirement earlier this year, while Csipes has taken a break from racing having reportedly said “she needs time to see if she still wants to kayak competitively”.

Aimee Fisher of New Zealand will be a top contender for gold after narrowly missing out on a medal in Paris. In 2024, Fisher became the first and only person to beat Lisa Carrington internationally since about 2019, at least in the 500m.

But Fisher won’t have an easy path to gold. Her best results this season have been in the 1000m race, where she snagged gold at both the Szeged and Poznan World Cups. In the 500m, Fisher was 3rd in Poznan and 4th in Szeged. Has she been focusing on the 1000m earlier in the season to improve her fitness, with the idea being that it will translate to the 500m in time for the World Champs? Or perhaps with a longer view, in time for the 2028 Olympic qualifiers? Her 2024 results make it clear that she’s capable of great things in the 500m, but it’s hard to say if she’ll be ready to show that in Milan.

The open field this season has allowed fresh names to shine, including Anna Pulawska (Poland), Natalia Drobot (Australia), Selma Konijn (Netherlands), and Nan Wang (China) who all picked up 500m medals at the World Cups. After double golds in the World Cups and silver at Europeans, Pulawska is arguably the favourite. But Hungarian Zsoka Csikos is in exceptionally good form as well. Like Aimee, Csikos’ best results at the World Cups were in the 1000m, but her recent gold at European Championships in the 500m says she’s more than ready for the 500m in Milan.

Although it’s not the Olympic event, the K1 1000m could be just as exciting with another rematch between Aimee Fisher, Zsoka Csikos, and Melina Andersson of Sweden. Their race in Szeged made for great spectating, where they finished 1-2-4 with Esther Rendessy of Hungary in 3rd. Andersson is in great form coming off two gold medals in the marathon racing at the World Games earlier this month, as well as silver and bronze medals at the European Sprint Championships in the 1000m and 5km. Paris 2024 was her first Olympics, and although Andersson is better known for her distance racing, it’s looking like that endurance focus is paying good dividends in sprint.

Speaking with Paddle Daily, Melina said: “I definitely think that when I’m really good in the marathons, I’m also really good in the sprints. I think they go hand in hand for me.” She says that 2021 was a turning point year for her when she started training with her coach from Denmark, David Rytter Larsen, and when she started doing marathons. Only a year later, she had a new personal best time in the 500m, took international medals in U23, and won the marathon world championships. She’s always training for the 500m sprint race, but incorporates more endurance than she thinks most people do, and that’s what’s taken her to new heights in recent years. Andersson isn’t racing the 500m in Milan as she’ll focus on the 1000m and 5km, but if she keeps progressing how she has been, she could certainly be a serious threat in the 500m before LA 2028.

Men’s K1 1000m: Can dark horse Hamish Lovemore disrupt the podium?

The men’s Olympic distance should theoretically be less open than the women’s race, as the entire A final from the Paris Olympics are signed up to race in Milan. But South African multidisciplinary paddler Hamish Lovemore proved in Szeged that it’s still possible for someone else to break through. At the World Cup in May, Lovemore stunned paddling fans when he took silver in 3:29.82, just 0.17 seconds behind Hungarian Balint Kopasz. He was more than two seconds ahead of reigning Olympic champion Josef Dostal (Czechia).

And the level of the racers who finished behind Lovemore? Most of the fastest men in the world in the 1000m, tenured Olympians and medallists: Jakob Thordsen (GER), Agustin Vernice (ARG), Adam Varga (HUN), Thomas Green (AUS), Martin Nathell (SWE), and Fernando Pimenta (POR). The young South African’s success was a shock to the system, and brought new levels of excitement to an event that has otherwise had many of the same names at the top for years.

Hamish Lovemore may be feeling the pressure since his silver medal in Hungary (he didn’t race in Poznan), but he has the added confidence boost of having just won two silver medals in marathon at the World Games behind marathon legend Mads Brandt Pedersen. Speaking about Milan on Paddlecast, Hamish said the sprints have been his main focus this year: “I’m really looking forward to racing the K1 1000m again. I feel like that’s where I’ve put most of my work in this year is training for that… I’m hoping I can be in the mix and be competitive.” He said he plans to simply focus on getting through the heats first before putting in a big effort in the semifinal to make sure he’s in the mix for the A Final. And of course from that point, as he says, “anyone can win”.

Fernando Pimenta is another top contender – after disappointing performances in Paris and at the beginning of the season (“disappointing” only for someone as decorated as Pimenta), the Portuguese paddler got back on top at European Championships and looks great going into Milan. He also won the European title in the 5km and in the distance race at the marathon European champs, making him current European champion in 1000m, 5km, and 30km, an undeniably impressive feat.

It will be a good fight for the medals, likely between Kopasz, Lovemore, Dostal, Pimenta, and perhaps more.

Rising Young Stars

Paddlers are lucky to compete in a sport where athletes can have long careers, racing at the highest levels of the sport into their 30s, 40s, and even 50s (see: Walter Bouzan). It’s not as old as shooting or equestrian, but canoe does skew toward the older end of Olympic disciplines. Women’s canoe, which is filled with young talent on and near the podium, may be the exception to the rule since women have only been allowed to compete in canoe at the Olympics since Tokyo 2020.

For younger paddlers, it can be tough to make the jump from Junior to Under 23, and then again to Senior. Which makes it all the more impressive when those young paddlers do make a splash. Here’s a few young stars to look out for in Milan:

Women’s Kayak: Natalia Drobot (AUS)

At 20 years old, Natalia’s results in the Under 23 category are impressive enough (gold in K1 500m at the 2025 U23 World Champs in 1:52.27), but her biggest impact this season has been at the senior level. At the Szeged World Cup, Drobot took bronze in the K1 500m behind Olympians Anna Pulawska and Nan Wang. She was ahead of a number of top paddlers including, most notably, Aimee Fisher. And right behind Aimee was Natalia’s 23 year old K2 partner, Kailey Harlen.

Considering their K1 results in Szeged, it shouldn’t be a complete surprise that Drobot / Harlen went on to win gold in the K2 500m race in Poznan. But their decisive victory still sent shockwaves around the world: they beat Polish Olympians Anna Pulawska / Martyna Klatt on their home turf, as well as double medal winner in Paris Paulina Paszek from Germany, who was racing with the young Hannah Spielhagen.

Look out for Natalia in the K1, K2, and K4 500m races in Milan.

Men’s Kayak: Jonas Ecker (USA)

In his last year of Under 23 racing this season, Jonas Ecker pulled off a “double double” at the Junior & U23 World Championships. Two years in a row, he won both the K1 500m and 1000m races against a tough field. With his partner Aaron Small, Jonas made a strong impression at his first Olympics last year when their K2 qualified for the A Final. It’s the best results the United States has had in men’s kayak since 2000 in Sydney.

Team USA is gearing up for a home Olympics in LA 2028, and aiming to field strong athletes with a host country advantage. High kneel canoeist Nevin Harrison will likely be back for her third Olympics and another medal, although she’s not racing internationally this year. But Jonas Ecker / Aaron Small might be the next best hope for an American medal.

Look out for Jonas in the K1 1000m and K2 500m races in Milan.

How to follow along

Results will be posted on the official event site, and paid members of the Planet Canoe YouTube channel can watch the races live. For more on Planet Canoe’s choice to paywall races, and a fan’s perspective from content creator Philip Bryde, check out this episode of Paddlecast.