International Canoe Federation

Szeged, located in Hungary's South Great Plain, has an unconditional affection for water; it is where the Rivers Tisza and Maros meet. With a population of 177,000 Szeged is, by Hungarian standards, a large city. It offers several attractions such as the thermal water of the recently renovated Anna Spa, the youthful teeming life of a University City, a calendar of varied international sporting events, and an exceptionally rich cultural landscape of festivals and traditional food. But it is the culture of canoeing that we're most concerned about and the next ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup is about to take off on Friday 28th May.

The venue is a favourite among many athletes, not least because of the fans that bring the stadium to life but also because the purpose built 2,400-metre long course is so well equipped. Built for purpose, the Maty-ér Regatta Course is well sheltered from strong winds, it is equipped with Albano system and has nine lanes along with a separate warm-up line. The electric time keeping with photo finish camera and video recording and an automatic starting system, ensure the course right up to date.

For this World Cup, the competition programme will feature the Canoe Sprint World Championship programme including Paracanoe events. Again over 40 countries will be attending and after the last World Cup in Vichy two weeks ago, many of our best athletes will be back to seek revenge. Denmark's Henriette Engel-Hansen had a terrible time at Vichy and is hoping that Szeged will be better: “I raced my first Worlds in Szeged (2006), it was a crazy experience, especially because the sport is really big in Hungary. I just remember going down the lane in the 1000m final — it was a big moment, my first final in an international championship— and in the last 250m I couldn't hear anything other than drums, people shouting and just noise, I couldn’t even hear my own paddle strokes in the water or my breath. Afterwards when I watch the 6-minute movie from the worlds in Szeged on YouTube I get goosebumps.”

Anders Gustafsson (SWE) agrees, the atmosphere is second to none: “I love the atmosphere there and how the great Hungarian crowd makes racing in Szeged something extra.” Reigning Men's K1 1000m world champions said Szeged “is an amazing course with all the fans. Thank you Hungary!!” Unfortunately, Max and his team mate, Ronny Rauhe will not be racing at this world cup due to the international qualifications for this year's World Championships however, the full British team will be there. This will be the first time we see Tim Brabants race since the Beijing Olympics in 2008 where he took gold in the Men's K1 1000m and bronze in the 500m. Also representing Great Britain will be Rachel Cawthorn (our athlete of the month for June).

We can also expect some world-class competition as the Hungarian team are out in full force. Katalin Kovacs and Natasa Janic will be competing in the WK4 500m together and the K1 5000m and K1 200m separately. Attila Vajda will be back in his C1 for the 1000m. ICF Secretary General Simon Toulson is looking forward to it; “We can expect blazing hot sunshine, calm waters and some astounding races with all the best athletes around the world”.

Keep an eye on the website for daily updates. Our Twitter page will also be updated and soon after the event, you can expect to see some great videos of athletes and the races.

For the official event website click here.