1979 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships

International canoe competition 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 Gold Time Silver Time Bronze TimeC-1 500 m Sergey Postrechin URS 1955 Ulrich Eicke GER Liubomir Ljubenov BUL 1971C-1 1000 m Tamás Wichmann HUN 1957 Liubomir Ljubenov BUL 1971 Ivan Patzaichin ROU 1965C-1 10000 m Tamás Wichmann HUN 1957 Sergey Liminovich URS 1955 Ivan Patzaichin ROU 1965C-2 500 m ROU 1965Ivan PatzaichinPetre Capusta URS 1955Sergey PetrenkoAleksandr Vinogradov PolandMarek ŁbikPiotr PawlowskiC-2 1000 m URS 1955Vasiliy JurtzhenkoYuri Lobanov HUN 1957Tamás BudayOszkár Frey ROU 1965Toma SimionovGheorghe SimionovC-2 10000 m URS 1955Vasiliy JurtzhenkoYuri Lobanov ROU 1965Cherasim MunteanuGheorge Titu HUN 1957Tamás BudayLászló Vaskúti Kayak Event Gold Time Silver Time Bronze TimeK-1 500 m Vladimir Parfenovich URS 1955 John Sumegi AUS Peter Hempel GDRK-1 1000 m Rüdiger Helm GDR Ion Bîrlădeanu ROU 1965 Felix Masár TCHK-1 10000 m Milan Janić YUG Einar Rasmussen NOR Nikolay Stepanenko URS 1955K-2 500 m URS 1955Vladimir ParfenovichSergei Chukhray Bernd OlbrichtRüdiger Helm FranceAlain LebasFrancis HervieuK-2 1000 m Einar RasmussenOlaf Søyland HUN 1957Zoltán BakóIstván Szabó URS 1955Sergei ChukhrayVladimir TainikovK-2 10000 m ROU 1965Nicușor EșanuIon Bîrlădeanu URS 1955Nikolay AstapkovichVladimir Romanovsky ESP 1977Herminio MenéndezLuis Gregorio RamosK-4 500 m Bernd DuvigneauHarald MargJürgen DittrichRoland Graupner URS 1955Sergey ZhinkarenkoIonas SautraSergei ChukhrayVladimir Tainikov PolandRyszard OborskiDaniel WełnaGrzegorz KołtanGrzegorz ŚledziewskiK-4 1000 m Bernd DuvigneauRüdiger HelmHarald MargBernd Olbricht PolandRyszard OborskiDaniel WełnaGrzegorz KołtanGrzegorz Śledziewski URS 1955Aleksandr ShaparenkoSergei NagornyiAleksandr AvdeyevIonas SautraK-4 10000 m URS 1955Aleksandr ShaparenkoSergey NikolskiyVladimir MorozovAleksandr Avdeyev PolandAndrzej KlimaszewskiKrzysztof LepiankaZbigniew TorzeckiZdzisław Szubski HUN 1957Tamás BenkőPéter KonecsnyLászló SzabóZoltán Romhany Women's Kayak Event Gold Time Silver Time Bronze TimeK-1 500 m Roswitha Eberl GDR Galina Alekseyeva URS 1955 Klára Rajnai HUN 1957K-2 500 m URS 1955Natalya KalashinkovaNina Doroh Marion RösigerMartina Bischof ROU 1965Agafia OrlovNatasia NichitovK-4 500 m Marion RösigerMartina BischofBirgit FischerRoswitha Eberl URS 1955Galina AlekseyevaNadezhda TrachimenokTatyana KorzhunovaLarissa Nadviga ROU 1965Agafia OrlovNatasia NichitovMaria NicolaeAdriana Tarasov Medals table 7 6 3 URS 1955 2 2 5 ROU 1965 5 2 1 2 2 3 HUN 1957 0 2 2 1 1 0 0 1 1 BUL 1971 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 ESP 1977 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. Icf Canoe Sprint World Championships, 1979 Icf Canoe Sprint World Championships, 1979 ICF Canoe Category:ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships Canoe Category:Canoeing and kayaking competitions in Germany