1979 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships explained

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	align=center bgcolor="gold"	Gold	align=center bgcolor="EFEFEF"	Time	align=center bgcolor="silver"	Silver	align=center bgcolor="EFEFEF"	Time	align=center bgcolor="CC9966"	Bronze	align=center bgcolor="EFEFEF"	Time
C-1 500 m
C-1 1000 m
C-1 10000 m
C-2 500 m	Ivan Patzaichin Petre Capusta		Sergey Petrenko Aleksandr Vinogradov		Marek Łbik Piotr Pawlowski
C-2 1000 m	Vasiliy Jurtzhenko Yuri Lobanov		Tamás Buday Oszkár Frey		Toma Simionov Gheorghe Simionov
C-2 10000 m	Vasiliy Jurtzhenko Yuri Lobanov		Cherasim Munteanu Gheorge Titu		Tamás Buday László Vaskúti

Kayak

Event	align=center bgcolor="gold"	Gold	align=center bgcolor="EFEFEF"	Time	align=center bgcolor="silver"	Silver	align=center bgcolor="EFEFEF"	Time	align=center bgcolor="CC9966"	Bronze	align=center bgcolor="EFEFEF"	Time
K-1 500 m
K-1 1000 m
K-1 10000 m
K-2 500 m	Vladimir Parfenovich Sergei Chukhray		Bernd Olbricht Rüdiger Helm		Alain Lebas Francis Hervieu
K-2 1000 m	Einar Rasmussen Olaf Søyland		Zoltán Bakó István Szabó		Sergei Chukhray Vladimir Tainikov
K-2 10000 m	Nicușor Eșanu Ion Bîrlădeanu		Nikolay Astapkovich Vladimir Romanovsky		Herminio Menéndez Luis Gregorio Ramos
K-4 500 m	Bernd Duvigneau Harald Marg Jürgen Dittrich Roland Graupner		Sergey Zhinkarenko Ionas Sautra Sergei Chukhray Vladimir Tainikov		Ryszard Oborski Daniel Wełna Grzegorz Kołtan Grzegorz Śledziewski
K-4 1000 m	Bernd Duvigneau Rüdiger Helm Harald Marg Bernd Olbricht		Ryszard Oborski Daniel Wełna Grzegorz Kołtan Grzegorz Śledziewski		Aleksandr Shaparenko Sergei Nagornyi Aleksandr Avdeyev Ionas Sautra
K-4 10000 m	Aleksandr Shaparenko Sergey Nikolskiy Vladimir Morozov Aleksandr Avdeyev		Andrzej Klimaszewski Krzysztof Lepianka Zbigniew Torzecki Zdzisław Szubski		Tamás Benkő Péter Konecsny László Szabó Zoltán Romhany

Women's

Kayak

Event	align=center bgcolor="gold"	Gold	align=center bgcolor="EFEFEF"	Time	align=center bgcolor="silver"	Silver	align=center bgcolor="EFEFEF"	Time	align=center bgcolor="CC9966"	Bronze	align=center bgcolor="EFEFEF"	Time
K-1 500 m
K-2 500 m	Natalya Kalashinkova Nina Doroh		Marion Rösiger Martina Bischof		Agafia Orlov Natasia Nichitov
K-4 500 m	Marion Rösiger Martina Bischof Birgit Fischer Roswitha Eberl		Galina Alekseyeva Nadezhda Trachimenok Tatyana Korzhunova Larissa Nadviga		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.