Summary
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 edit
Men's edit
Canoe edit
| Event | Gold | Time | Silver | Time | Bronze | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C-1 500 m |  Sergey Postrechin (URS) |
 Ulrich Eicke (GER) |
 Liubomir Ljubenov (BUL) |
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| C-1 1000 m |  Tamás Wichmann (HUN) |
Liubomir Ljubenov (BUL) |
 Ivan Patzaichin (ROU) |
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| C-1 10000 m | Tamás Wichmann (HUN) |
Sergey Liminovich (URS) |
Ivan Patzaichin (ROU) |
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| C-2 500 m | Romania Ivan Patzaichin Petre Capusta |
Soviet Union Sergey Petrenko Aleksandr Vinogradov |
 PolandMarek Łbik Piotr Pawlowski |
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| C-2 1000 m | Soviet Union Vasiliy Jurtzhenko Yuri Lobanov |
Hungary Tamás Buday Oszkár Frey |
Romania Toma Simionov Gheorghe Simionov |
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| C-2 10000 m | Soviet Union Vasiliy Jurtzhenko Yuri Lobanov |
Romania Cherasim Munteanu Gheorge Titu |
Hungary Tamás Buday László Vaskúti |
Kayak edit
Women's edit
Kayak edit
| Event | Gold | Time | Silver | Time | Bronze | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| K-1 500 m |  Roswitha Eberl (GDR) |
Galina Alekseyeva (URS) |
Klára Rajnai (HUN) |
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| K-2 500 m | Soviet Union Natalya Kalashinkova Nina Doroh |
East Germany Marion Rösiger Martina Bischof |
Romania Agafia Orlov Natasia Nichitov |
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| K-4 500 m | East Germany Marion Rösiger Martina Bischof Birgit Fischer Roswitha Eberl |
Soviet Union Galina Alekseyeva Nadezhda Trachimenok Tatyana Korzhunova Larissa Nadviga |
Romania Agafia Orlov Natasia Nichitov Maria Nicolae Adriana Tarasov |
Medals table edit
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Soviet Union (URS) | 7 | 6 | 3 | 16 |
| 2 | East Germany (GDR) | 5 | 2 | 1 | 8 |
| 3 | Romania (ROU) | 2 | 2 | 5 | 9 |
| 4 | Hungary (HUN) | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| 5 |  Norway (NOR) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 |  Yugoslavia (YUG) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | Poland (POL) | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 8 | Bulgaria (BUL) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 9 |  Australia (AUS) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| West Germany (FRG) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 11 |  Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 France (FRA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Spain (ESP) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (13 entries) | 18 | 18 | 18 | 54 | |
References edit
- 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.