Ivrea, Italy will welcome the world’s best canoe slalom paddlers for the latest round of the 2024 ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup from 12-15 September. The picturesque landscape surrounding the Italian town will give way to fierce competition, as canoe slalom athletes go head-to-head for the first time since the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
Olympic champions Noemie Fox, Giovanni De Gennaro and Finn Butcher will all look to continue an unforgettable summer with additional victories in Ivrea. Of course, they’ll have to fend off talented newcomers like Ziga Hocevar, and decorated veterans like Kimberley Woods if they want to continue their reign over the whitewater.
While there are few certainties in canoe slalom, the 2024 ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup Ivrea is shaping up to be anything but boring. Read on to find out more about the competition schedule, athletes to watch, and how to watch canoe slalom live.
Athletes to watch: Olympic champions face first test since Paris 2024
All six events contested at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 will be contested at the 2024 ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup Ivrea. Nonetheless, there’s one event that will be watched extra closely by the partisan Italian supporters: men’s kayak single.
Italian Olympic champion Giovanni De Gennaro will look to repeat the heroics he performed at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, when he won a tight final with quick and precise paddling.
The 32-year-old has been in impeccable form this season, claiming victories at the 2024 ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup Prague and European Championships in addition to his victory at Paris 2024. The biggest threat to his coronation on home waters might come from Czechia’s duo of Jiri Prskavec and Vits Prindis, who will be eager to score a victory over De Gennaro after he bested the pair on their home waters in Prague.
Likewise, Paris 2024 silver medalist in the men’s canoe single event, Great Britain’s Adam Burgess, will fancy his chances of victory in the absence of Olympic champion Nicolas Gestin. It won’t be a simple paddle downstream, however, with Paris 2024 bronze medalist Matej Benus of Slovakia and a trio of talented Slovenian paddlers looking to snag a world cup victory of their own.
Slovakia’s Benus has been in particularly strong form this season, qualifying to the final of all three world cup competitions in addition to the medal he won at Paris 2024. The 36-year-old stands in stark contrast to teenage phenom Ziga Hocevar of Slovenia, who’s already proven that he can tame the wild and unpredictable whitewater sport with a world cup victory in Augsberg. Both will hope to add further accolades to an already memorable season in Ivrea.
New Zealand’s Finn Butcher will also hope to create some new memories in Ivrea when he takes to the kayak cross course as the event’s first-ever Olympic champion.
The 29-year-old, who “couldn’t even comprehend it” when he passed through the final gate before the finish line at Paris 2024, will be eager to prove he’s no “one-hit wonder,” with another victory in canoe slalom’s most extreme event at the 2024 ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup Ivrea.
While Australia’s Jessica Fox reigned supreme over the whitewater at Paris 2024, her absence from the start list for the 2024 ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup Ivrea will open the door to paddlers looking to make a splash of their own in the women’s canoe single and kayak single events.
Germany’s Elena Lilik will be a strong contender for victory in women’s canoe single after claiming a silver medal at Paris 2024. While she’s yet to win a world cup competition this season, Lilik’s credentials include six world championship medals and a gold medal in the women’s canoe single event at the 2023 European Games.
Her biggest challenge might come for Team USA’s Evy Leibfarth, who claimed bronze at Paris 2024, along with back-to-back gold medals at the Pan American Games and one U23 world championship title in 2023.
Lilik will also need to keep a close eye on the performances of Great Britain’s Mallory Franklin and Kimberley Woods, as the pair look to improve on their results from Paris 2024.
Woods and Franklin will also compete in the women’s kayak single event, where Paris 2024 silver medalist Klaudia Zwolinska will be among the favourites to claim victory in Ivrea.
Poland’s canoe star has experienced a lukewarm season since winning a European Championship title, but the confidence boost of an Olympic medal might be enough to propel her toward her first world cup podium of the season.
Australia’s Noemie Fox, sister of double Olympic champion Jessica Fox, will also look to score her first victory at a world cup competition in the women’s kayak cross event, which she won at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
Schedule for the 2024 ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup Ivrea (all times local GMT+2)
Thursday, 12 September
- 14:00 Women K1 heats - run 1
- 14:50 Men K1 heats - run 1
- 16:05 Women K1 heats - run 2
- 16:35 Men K1 heats - run 2
Friday, 13 September
- 08:15 Women C1 heats - run 1
- 09:02 Men C1 heats - run 1
- 10:00 Women C1 heats - run 2
- 10:27 Men C1 heats - run 2
- 14:00 Women K1 semifinal
- 15:05 Men K1 semifinal
- 16:49 Women K1 final
- 17:26 Men K1 final
Saturday, 14 September
- 09:00 Women C1 semifinal
- 10:05 Men C1 semifinal
- 11:34 Women C1 final
- 12:11 Men C1 final
Sunday, 15 September
- 08:45 Women kayak cross time trial
- 09:26 Men kayak cross time trial
- 11:15 Women kayak cross heats
- 11:39 Men kayak cross heats
- 12:19 Wome kayak cross 1/4 final
- 12:38 Men kayak cross 1/4 final
- 12:56 Women kayak cross 1/2 final
- 13:05 Men kayak cross 1/2 final
- 13:18 Women kayak cross final
- 13:25 Men kayak cross final
2024 ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup Ivrea: How to watch live
The 2024 ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup Ivrea will be streamed on the International Canoe Federation YouTube Page. Viewers will be required to pay a monthly subscription fee to access live streams of the competition.