2024 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup and Paracanoe World Championships in Szeged
Szeged hosts the European Olympic Qualifier and 2024 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup and Paracanoe World Championships between May 8-12, 2024. 1,100 paddlers form 64 countries participate in the five-day event.
Shortly after the 2024 European Rowing Championships and Olympic Qualification Regatta, Szeged hosts another important watersport event. The 2024 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup and Paracanoe World Championships will be the first international competition of the season for the sprint and paracanoe disciplines, while for the European competitors, this will be the last chance to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
On Wednesday and Thursday, competitors take to the water for Olympic quotas at the Maty-ér Rowing Center. At last year's World Cup in Duisburg, Hungary already collected 15 of the possible 18 starting rights. This is enough for Hungarian paddlers to participate in all competitions at the French capital, but now the team will try to win the remaining three quotas.
On Tuesday afternoon's press conference held at Maty-ér, Bálint Szakács, president of the Organizing Committee, Csaba Hüttner, national team captain, Botond Hajdu, para kayak-canoe national team captain, Katalin Varga, Paralympic bronze medalist and European champion, and Zsóka Csikós, U23 world champion kayaker shared their thoughts about the upcoming days.
"We are working on the finishing touches. Technically, we are running three races, but we look at it as one event. We have prepared appropriately, we are already looking forward to tomorrow's start" said Bálint Szakács. He added that it is worth visiting the World Cup not only for the competitions but also for the touring canoe race on Friday, where several Hungarian Olympic and world champions will compete together with children. Finally, he explained that tickets for the 2024 ECA Canoe Sprint, Paracanoe and SUP European Championships, which will be held between June 12-16 in Szeged, are still available on the szeged2024.com website and that the specialty of the continental tournament is that anyone can enter the SUP competitions on the event's official website.
The 2024 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup runs from Friday to Sunday. There will be no special stakes for Hungary, but as the national team captain explained, it is an excellent occasion to test the paddlers' strength to see where they are in their preparation. There are 26 events organized in the tournament, and a nation can enter up to two units in all of them.
At the Paracanoe World Championships, which runs from Thursday to Saturday, and offers quotas for the Paralympics, nine Hungarian competitors will take to the water. Para kayak-canoe national team captain Botond Hajdu sees it as realistic to obtain one or three more starting rights in Paris in addition to the existing four.
The European Olympic Qualifier and 2024 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup and Paracanoe World Championships, between May 8-12 at Maty-ér, Szeged, are free for fans to attend. The finals will be broadcast live on channel M4 Sport.
All programs, the detailed schedule and other relevant information can be found on the event’s website.
Featured image via Hungarian Canoe Federation (MKKSZ)
Press event photos: Szilvia Molnar / Szegedify
