The 1971 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships were held in Meran, Italy under the auspices of International Canoe Federation for the second time. It was the 12th edition. The mixed C2 team event was discontinued following the 1969 championships. Meran hosted the championships previously in 1953, tying a record set both by Geneva, Switzerland (1949, 1959) and by Spittal, Austria (1963, 1965).
| Event | align=center bgcolor="gold" | Gold | align=center bgcolor="EFEFEF" | Points | align=center bgcolor="silver" | Silver | align=center bgcolor="EFEFEF" | Points | align=center bgcolor="CC9966" | Bronze | align=center bgcolor="EFEFEF" | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C1 | 293.76 | 305.49 | 313.23 | |||||||||
| C1 team | Jürgen Köhler Wulf Reinicke Jochen Förster | 410.19 | Wolfgang Peters Harald Cuypers Reinhold Kauder | 423.81 | Zbyněk Puleč Karel Třešňák Petr Sodomka | 500.90 | ||||||
| C2 | Klaus Trummer Jürgen Kretschmer | 268.68 | Rolf-Dieter Amend Walter Hofmann | 282.50 | Uwe Franz Ulrich Opelt | 284.76 | ||||||
| C2 team | Rolf-Dieter Amend & Walter Hofmann Klaus Trummer & Jürgen Kretschmer Uwe Franz & Ulrich Opelt | 403.78 | Karl-Heinz Scheffer & Heinz-Jürgen Steinschulte Manfred Heß & Wolfgang Wenzel Hans Jakob Hitz & Theo Nüsing | 493.70 | Ladislav Měšťan & Zdeněk Měšťan Antonín Brabec & František Kadaňka Milan Horyna & Gabriel Janoušek | 499.06 |
| Event | align=center bgcolor="gold" | Gold | align=center bgcolor="EFEFEF" | Points | align=center bgcolor="silver" | Silver | align=center bgcolor="EFEFEF" | Points | align=center bgcolor="CC9966" | Bronze | align=center bgcolor="EFEFEF" | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| K1 | 241.40 | 251.17 | 252.67 | |||||||||
| K1 team | Kurt Presslmayr Norbert Sattler Hans Schlecht | 302.83 | Jürgen Bremer Siegbert Horn Christian Döring | 329.87 | Jürgen Gerlach Alfred Baum Ulrich Peters | 337.05 |
| Event | align=center bgcolor="gold" | Gold | align=center bgcolor="EFEFEF" | Points | align=center bgcolor="silver" | Silver | align=center bgcolor="EFEFEF" | Points | align=center bgcolor="CC9966" | Bronze | align=center bgcolor="EFEFEF" | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C2 | Hana Koudelová Jiří Koudela | 342.14 | Jitka Legatová Milan Svoboda | 355.41 | Ludmilla Sirotková Jiří Krejza | 399.36 |
| Event | align=center bgcolor="gold" | Gold | align=center bgcolor="EFEFEF" | Points | align=center bgcolor="silver" | Silver | align=center bgcolor="EFEFEF" | Points | align=center bgcolor="CC9966" | Bronze | align=center bgcolor="EFEFEF" | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| K1 | 347.30 | 367.18 | 370.10 | |||||||||
| K1 team | Angelika Bahmann Veronika Stampe Dagmar Kriste | 520.13 | Ursula Heinrich Ulrike Deppe Bärbel Körner | 603.82 | Bohumila Kapplová Ludmila Polesná Irena Komancová | 736.02 |