The 1982 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships were held in Belgrade, Yugoslavia for the record fourth time. The Yugoslavian (now Serbian) city had host the championships previously in 1971, 1975, and 1978.
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 seventeenth championships in canoe sprint.
| 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 | Matija Ljubek Mirko Nišović | Yuriy Laptikov Sergey Petrenko |  László Foltán István Vaskúti | |||||||||
| C-2 1000 m | János Sarusi Kis Gyula Hajdu | Matija Ljubek Mirko Nišović | Olaf Heukrodt Uwe Madeja | |||||||||
| C-2 10000 m |  Ivan Patzaichin Toma Simionov | Vassily Beresa Edem Muradosilov | Tamás Buday László Vaskúti |
| 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 | Birgit Fischer Bettina Streussel | Katalin Povázsán Erika Géczi | Karin Olsson Agneta Andersson | |||||||||
| K-4 500 m | Birgit Fischer Bettina Streussel Roswitha Eberl Kathrin Giese | Inna Zhipulina Nelli Yefremova Yekaterina Golubeva Saba Komkova | Agnes Dragos Erika Géczi Katalin Povázsán Éva Rakusz |