1979 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships

The 1979 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships were held in Duisburg, West Germany.

The men's competition consisted of six Canadian (single paddle, open boat) and nine kayak events. Three events were held for the women, all in kayak.

This was the fifteenth championships in canoe sprint. It was where an incident later referred to as The Česiunas Affair took place when Soviet-born Lithuanian canoer Vladas Česiūnas appeared at the event as a spectator only to vanish. The West German government claimed Česiunas had defected, but the former canoer had returned to the Soviet Union voluntarily several weeks later. During Česiunas' disappearance, he would speak in favor of the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott, more than two months before the Soviet–Afghan War, but later returned to the Soviet Embassy in Bonn. The Soviets toned down their rhetoric about Česiunas' "disappearance" in the West and changed his mind all the while West Germany continued to maintain that he had been kidnapped.

Medal summary

Men's

Canoe

Event	Gold	Time	Silver	Time	Bronze	Time
C-1 500 m	Template:Flagathlete		Template:Flagathlete		Template:Flagathlete
C-1 1000 m	Template:Flagathlete		Template:Flagathlete		Template:Flagathlete
C-1 10000 m	Template:Flagathlete		Template:Flagathlete		Template:Flagathlete
C-2 500 m	Template:Flagcountry Ivan Patzaichin Petre Capusta		Template:Flagcountry Sergey Petrenko Aleksandr Vinogradov		Template:Flagu Marek Łbik Piotr Pawlowski
C-2 1000 m	Template:Flagcountry Vasiliy Jurtzhenko Yuri Lobanov		Template:Flagcountry Tamás Buday Oszkár Frey		Template:Flagcountry Toma Simionov Gheorghe Simionov
C-2 10000 m	Template:Flagcountry Vasiliy Jurtzhenko Yuri Lobanov		Template:Flagcountry Cherasim Munteanu Gheorge Titu		Template:Flagcountry Tamás Buday László Vaskúti

Kayak

Event	Gold	Time	Silver	Time	Bronze	Time
K-1 500 m	Template:Flagathlete		Template:Flagathlete		Template:Flagathlete
K-1 1000 m	Template:Flagathlete		Template:Flagathlete		Template:Flagathlete
K-1 10000 m	Template:Flagathlete		Template:Flagathlete		Template:Flagathlete
K-2 500 m	Template:Flagcountry Vladimir Parfenovich Sergei Chukhray		Template:GDR Bernd Olbricht Rüdiger Helm		Template:Flagu Alain Lebas Francis Hervieu
K-2 1000 m	Einar Rasmussen Olaf Søyland		Template:Flagcountry Zoltán Bakó István Szabó		Template:Flagcountry Sergei Chukhray Vladimir Tainikov
K-2 10000 m	Template:Flagcountry Nicușor Eșanu Ion Bîrlădeanu		Template:Flagcountry Nikolay Astapkovich Vladimir Romanovsky		Template:Flagcountry Herminio Menéndez Luis Gregorio Ramos
K-4 500 m	Template:GDR Bernd Duvigneau Harald Marg Jürgen Dittrich Roland Graupner		Template:Flagcountry Sergey Zhinkarenko Ionas Sautra Sergei Chukhray Vladimir Tainikov		Template:Flagu Ryszard Oborski Daniel Wełna Grzegorz Kołtan Grzegorz Śledziewski
K-4 1000 m	Template:GDR Bernd Duvigneau Rüdiger Helm Harald Marg Bernd Olbricht		Template:Flagu Ryszard Oborski Daniel Wełna Grzegorz Kołtan Grzegorz Śledziewski		Template:Flagcountry Aleksandr Shaparenko Sergei Nagornyi Aleksandr Avdeyev Ionas Sautra
K-4 10000 m	Template:Flagcountry Aleksandr Shaparenko Sergey Nikolskiy Vladimir Morozov Aleksandr Avdeyev		Template:Flagu Andrzej Klimaszewski Krzysztof Lepianka Zbigniew Torzecki Zdzisław Szubski		Template:Flagcountry Tamás Benkő Péter Konecsny László Szabó Zoltán Romhany

Women's

Kayak

Event	Gold	Time	Silver	Time	Bronze	Time
K-1 500 m	Template:Flagathlete		Template:Flagathlete		Template:Flagathlete
K-2 500 m	Template:Flagcountry Natalya Kalashinkova Nina Doroh		Template:GDR Marion Rösiger Martina Bischof		Template:Flagcountry Agafia Orlov Natasia Nichitov
K-4 500 m	Template:GDR Marion Rösiger Martina Bischof Birgit Fischer Roswitha Eberl		Template:Flagcountry Galina Alekseyeva Nadezhda Trachimenok Tatyana Korzhunova Larissa Nadviga		Template:Flagcountry Agafia Orlov Natasia Nichitov Maria Nicolae Adriana Tarasov

References

• ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships - Part 1: flatwater (now sprint): 1936-2007.
• ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships - Part 2: rest of flatwater (now sprint) and remaining canoeing disciplines: 1936-2007.
• Wallechinsky, David and Jaime Loucky (2008). "Canoeing: Men's Canadian Pairs 1000 Meters". In The Complete Book of the Olympics: 2008 Edition. London: Aurum Press Limited. p. 493.