Balint Kopasz
- Country
- Hungary
- Club
- Graboplast Győri VSE (Graboplast Gyor)
- National team
- Hungary Canoe Sprint
- Born
- 1997-06-20
Bálint Kopasz owns the title every kayaker covets: Olympic champion in the K1 1000, won at Tokyo 2020. Born on 20 June 1997 in Szeged, the cradle of Hungarian canoeing, and racing for Győri VSE, he has been the defining Hungarian K1 racer of his generation over 500 and 1000 metres. Few careers are so relentlessly consistent. Kopasz became K1 1000 world champion on home water in Szeged in 2019, doubled up in Dartmouth in 2022 with K1 1000 and K2 500 gold, dropped down to take the K1 500 world title in Duisburg in 2023 and reclaimed the K1 1000 crown in Milan in 2025. At Paris 2024 he stayed on the Olympic podium, taking K1 1000 bronze in the final won by Josef Dostál. The 2026 campaign has been built on tight margins. He opened with World Cup gold in Brandenburg, then at the [European Championships in Montemor-o-Velho](/news/european-canoe-sprint-championships-2026-wrap-up-en) was run down late in the K1 1000 by Uladzislau Kravets, competing as an AIN athlete, and settled for silver. Eight international starts have produced one gold and two silvers, in a field previewed in depth [before the continental championships](/news/2026-eca-canoe-sprint-european-championships-preview-en) and tracked through [finals day](/news/european-canoe-sprint-championships-2026-day-2-semifinals-en). With the World Championships in Poznań (26–30 August) on the season calendar and Los Angeles 2028 qualification running through the world rankings, the next rounds of the K1 1000 rivalry — Kopasz, Dostál, Kravets and a stacked chasing pack — are the ones to watch.