Martin Fuksa
- Country
- Czechia
- Club
- Dukla Praha
- National team
- Czechia Canoe Sprint
- Born
- 1993-04-30
Martin Fuksa is the reigning Olympic champion in the men's C1 1000m and the defining single-canoe racer of his generation. The Czech, who competes for Dukla Prague and is a Red Bull athlete, has spent more than a decade at the sharp end of the sport's blue-riband canoe distances, the C1 500m and C1 1000m — and he still owns the fastest C1 1000m time ever recorded, 3:42.38 from 2018. Born on 30 April 1993, Fuksa announced himself with world titles in the C1 500m in Milan (2015) and Račice (2017), then added C1 1000m crowns in Duisburg (2023) and Milan (2025), alongside a run of European golds stretching back to 2013. For years the Olympic title was the one prize that escaped him: fifth in the C1 1000m at both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, where he also raced the C2 1000m with his brother Petr. In Paris 2024 he closed the account emphatically, winning gold in an Olympic-record 3:43.16, more than a second clear of Brazil's Isaquias Queiroz. The 2026 season has shown no sign of him easing off: 28 starts and seven gold medals across the World Cup circuit, the Czech nationals and the European Championships, where he completed the C1 500m/C1 1000m double in [Montemor-o-Velho](/news/european-canoe-sprint-championships-2026-wrap-up-en) after entering the regatta among the [headline favourites](/news/2026-eca-canoe-sprint-european-championships-preview-en). His spring programme also ran through the World Cup stop in [Szeged](/news/icf-canoe-sprint-world-cup-szeged-2026-sun-shines-in-sprint). With the World Championships in Poznań (26–30 August) next on the season calendar and Los Angeles 2028 qualification running through the world rankings, Fuksa remains the man the rest of the C1 field measures itself against.