Once every four years, twenty countries send their fastest marathon kayaker to battle for the World Games title. Quirky yet prestigious, the World Games offers an Olympics-style event for non-Olympic sports. In the Canoe category, the World Games will also feature Canoe Polo and Dragonboat.

Chengdu 2025 in China is only the second time that marathon canoe has featured as a full event (rather than invitational) at the World Games, with the first one being in Birmingham Alabama in 2022. And the competition this time around is looking fiercer than ever.

Almost all of the world’s best marathon kayakers are in China this weekend to face off for World Games titles that offer a four year reign.

In the men’s race, the field is so competitive that leading podium contenders Hamish Lovemore (South Africa) and James “Jimbo” Russell (Great Britain) both listed almost half the athletes as their biggest competition. Nico Paufler (Germany), Ivan Alonso (Spain), and Jose Ramalho (Portugal) are returning to defend their podium spots from 2022. Jon Amund Vold (Denmark) who just took bronze at European Championships will be fighting for a podium spot. And the reigning World Champion, with numerous World Championship titles, Mads Brandt Pederson will be in China to defend his 2022 gold.

The women’s race will feature the long-awaited showdown between Vanda Kiszli (Hungary) and Melina Andersson (Sweden). Kiszli has been near undefeated in marathon for the last 5-10 years, and Andersson is one of the few who have been able to beat her… most notably in a shock sprint finish at last year’s World Championships. It’s likely to be these two fighting it out at the front, but the battle for bronze could be very fierce with top contenders including Pernille Hostrup (Denmark), Rebecca Mann (Australia), Susanna Cicali (Italy), Maria Rei (Portugal), 2022 World Games bronze and silver medalist Eva Barrios (Spain), and Saskia Hockley (South Africa) with an outside chance for Kitty Schiphorst (Netherlands). The Dutch dark horse is known for her power in sprint, but only started marathon training six weeks prior to the World Games when her federation asked her to fill the spot at the last minute.

But with an unusually short long distance course of 20km with a high frequency of portages (8 portages), will the marathon play out differently than a typical World Championships or European Championships race? Billy and Betsy analyse the results and strengths of the top competitors, including with input from Hamish, Jimbo, and Kitty, to predict who will be in the top three and who has the best chance of taking the win.

You can watch the World Games live at https://live.theworldgames.org

Saturday August 9th

K1 Women Short Course Heat 1 - 9:20am local, 2:20am London, 9:20pm New York

K1 Women Short Course Heat 2 - 9:50am local, 2:50am London, 9:50pm New York

K1 Men Short Course Heat 1 - 10:50am local, 3:50am London, 10:50pm New York

K1 Men Short Course Heat 2 - 11:50am local, 4:50am London, 11:50pm New York

K1 Women Short Course Final - 5:00pm local, 10:00am London, 5:00am New York

K1 Men Short Course Final - 5:40pm local, 10:40am London, 5:40am New York

Sunday August 10th

K1 Women Marathon Final - 3:15pm local, 8:15am London, 3:15am New  York

K1 Men Marathon Final - 5:15pm local, 10:15am London, 5:15am New York

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