The 1987 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships were held in Duisburg, West Germany for the second time. The West German city hosted the championships previously in 1979.
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 21st 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 | Marek Łbik Marek Dopierała | Yuriy Gurin Valeriy Veshko | Petr Procházka Alon Lochinsky | |||||||||
| C-2 1000 m | Yuriy Gurin Valeriy Veshko | Marek Łbik Marek Dopierała | Ulrich Papke Ingo Spelly | |||||||||
| C-2 10000 m | Arne Nielsson Christian Frederiksen |  Róbert Rideg Pál Pétervári | Andrew Train Stephen Train |
| 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 Schmidt Anke Nothnagel | Annemiek Derckx Annemarie Cox | Ogniana Petkova Ivanka Mueriva | |||||||||
| K-4 500 m | Birgit Schmidt Anke Nothnagel Ramona Portwich Ines Rudolph | Erika Géczi Rita Kőbán Katalin Povázsán Éva Rakusz | Irina Salomykova Olga Slapina Guinara Zharafutdinova Snieguole Nareviciute |