Who won the men's C1 500 m at the Asian Games 2026?

Bowen Ji of China won in 1:47.338. Vladlen Denisov of Uzbekistan took silver, 0.607 s behind, and Kuan-Chieh Lai of Chinese Taipei won bronze in 1:49.042. It was Ji's second gold of the Games after the C2 500 m on 24 September.

How have the hosts done?

Japan have two medals and no gold: silver in the men's K2 and bronze in the men's K4. The K2 was the closest miss, 0.317 s, after Tanada and Tanaka had beaten the eventual champions in their heat. Naganuma also finished 0.049 s off fourth place in the C1.

Asian Games 2026 canoe sprint, day 3: China win three finals, Korea's Cho completes K2-K4 double

Q: Which country leads the canoe sprint medal table after day 3?

China, with five gold and two silver medals from eight finals. South Korea have two gold medals. Uzbekistan have one gold, four silver and one bronze, six medals in total, the second-highest number after China.

Q: Did the podiums change since the Asian Championships in Hefei?

In two events, no. The women's K4 500 m podium was again China, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and the women's C2 500 m podium again China, Uzbekistan, Vietnam. In the men's C1 500 m Ji won again, but Denisov took silver and Lai dropped from second to third. In the men's K2 500 m Korea moved from second to first, but China, who won in Hefei, did not enter the event at Miyoshi.

Q: Did South Korea beat China head to head?

Yes, once. In the K4 500 m Korea beat China by 0.255 s after losing to the same Chinese crew by 0.708 s in Hefei. China did not start in the men's K2 or K1 500 m, so there is no second comparison at these Games.

Q: Which country has the most medals after China?

Uzbekistan, with six, one fewer than China. But five of them are four silver medals and a bronze, and four of the silver medals came in finals won by China. Uzbekistan's only gold so far came from Sherzodova in the C1 200 m, by 0.016 s.

Q: When are the last canoe sprint finals at the Asian Games 2026?

On Saturday 26 September: women's K1 500 m at 11:30, men's K1 500 m at 11:40, mixed C2 500 m at 11:50 and mixed K2 500 m at 12:00 Japan time, which is 04:30 to 05:00 CEST.

Published: 2026-09-25T09:53:36+00:00
Author: PaddleStats

Full competition results: Asian Games 2026 - Canoe Sprint

China win three golds on day three as Bowen Ji completes double

China won three of the four canoe sprint medal finals on Friday at the 2026 Asian Games on Miyoshi Lake near Nagoya. Olympic champion Bowen Ji added the men's C1 500 m title to the C2 gold he won on Thursday. South Korea claimed the men's K2 500 m title as Gwang Hee Cho and Hyobin Kim beat Japan by 0.317 seconds, a day after winning gold together in the K4.

Friday's programme began at 10:00 Japan time (03:00 CEST), with two semifinals and a B final preceding the four medal races, scheduled to start between 11:30 and 12:00 (04:30–05:00 CEST). Uzbekistan took silver in three of the four medal events.

Medal table after day three

Eight of the twelve medal events have now been decided. China lead with five golds and two silvers, followed by South Korea with two golds. Uzbekistan have six medals, the second-highest total behind China.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	5	2	0	7
2	South Korea	2	0	0	2
3	Uzbekistan	1	4	1	6
4	Kazakhstan	0	1	2	3
5	Japan	0	1	1	2

Indonesia, Iran, Chinese Taipei and Vietnam have one bronze medal each.

Bowen Ji makes it two golds in two days

Ji arrived in Miyoshi as the reigning Olympic C2 500 m champion, having won gold with Hao Liu in 1:39.48 at the Paris 2024 Games. On Thursday, he won the same event alongside Shengyue Wu. Their time of 1:40.741 put them 2.137 seconds ahead of Uzbekistan's Artur Guliev and Vladlen Denisov.

On Friday, Ji completed his double with victory in the C1 500 m. He finished in 1:47.338, with Denisov again taking silver, this time 0.607 seconds behind in 1:47.945. Kuan-Chieh Lai of Chinese Taipei won bronze in 1:49.042. South Korea's Seonhong Hwang was fourth in 1:50.221, just 0.049 seconds ahead of Japan's Ryo Naganuma.

The win continued a strong season for Ji in the C1 500 m. He won World Cup gold in Szeged and Montreal, took silver in Brandenburg and earned bronze at the World Championships in Poznań in late August with a time of 1:47.10. At the Asian Championships in Hefei in April, he won both the C1 500 m (1:51.886) and the C2 500 m with Jian Xu (1:41.891).

There was a change behind him on the C1 podium. In Hefei, Lai took silver and Uzbekistan's Mirjalol Kamilov won bronze. In Miyoshi, Denisov, who did not contest the C1 500 m in Hefei, finished second, while Lai placed third.

Denisov now has two silver medals at these Games and another opportunity to reach the podium on Saturday, when he races the mixed C2 500 m with Nilufar Zokirova. His earlier successes include three C1 titles at the 2023 Asian Junior and U23 Championships in Samarkand, where he won the U23 200 m, 500 m and 1000 m events.

China repeat Hefei wins in the women's K4 and C2

All four of Friday's events were also contested at the Asian Championships in April. In the women's K4 500 m and C2 500 m, the nations finished in exactly the same medal positions as in Hefei.

Women's K4 500 m. China fielded the crew that won the world title in Poznań in August: Shimeng Yu, Mengdie Yin, Nan Wang and Siyu Shen. They won in 1:33.784, finishing 2.777 seconds clear of Uzbekistan. The same Chinese quartet had won in Hefei by 3.058 seconds.

Kazakhstan again took bronze with Olga Shmelyova, Tatyana Tokarnitskaya, Stella Sukhanova and Evelina Kostenko. South Korea narrowly missed the podium, finishing just 0.129 seconds behind them.

For Yu and Yin, it was a second gold in two days. They won Thursday's K2 500 m final in 1:45.010, beating Kazakhstan by 3.130 seconds. The pair had taken silver in the same event at the World Championships in Poznań.

Uzbekistan's silver-medal crew brought together paddlers more than 23 years apart in age. Ekaterina Shubina was born in May 1988, while Milana Dushev-Yanich turned 15 on 2 September. Arina Tanatmisheva and Shakhrizoda Mavlonova completed the crew.

Women's C2 500 m. As in Hefei, China took gold ahead of Uzbekistan and Vietnam. Mengya Sun and Yanan Ma won in 1:54.700, with Shohsanam Sherzodova and Zokirova 1.719 seconds behind in 1:56.419. Vietnam's Thi Huong Nguyen and Thi Huong Diep claimed bronze in 1:57.255. Kazakhstan's Mariya Brovkova and Ulyana Kisseleva finished fourth.

Sun is a two-time Olympic C2 500 m champion, having won in Tokyo and Paris alongside Shixiao Xu. This year, she also won the C4 500 m world title in Poznań with Xina Jiang, Anshuo Teng and Ma.

For Sherzodova, Friday's silver followed a dramatic victory in Thursday's C1 200 m final. The 21-year-old beat China's Changwen Shuai by just 0.016 seconds, clocking 46.597 to Shuai's 46.613.

Cho and Kim add K2 gold to their K4 title

Gwang Hee Cho and Hyobin Kim went one better than their result in Hefei, where they took K2 500 m silver, 0.307 seconds behind China's Chenhao Li and Jinwei Wang. With China not entering the men's K2 in Miyoshi, Japan emerged as South Korea's closest challengers.

Japan's Taishi Tanada and Masaya Tanaka had beaten the Koreans in Wednesday's heat, finishing in 1:32.899 to their rivals' 1:33.250. Friday's final reversed that order: Cho and Kim won in 1:31.859, with Tanada and Tanaka 0.317 seconds behind in 1:32.176. Iran's Ali Aghamirzaeijenaghard and Peyman Ghavidel Siah Sofiani took bronze in 1:32.869.

Cho and Kim had already won gold on Thursday in the K4 500 m alongside Sangwon Jang and Minkyu Choi. In that final, South Korea beat China by 0.255 seconds, clocking 1:22.587 to China's 1:22.842.

That result reversed the outcome in Hefei, where China won by 0.708 seconds. Both nations retained their April line-ups, with Fengwei Liang, Shengkai Ding, Weiyang Chen and Jinwei Wang making up the Chinese crew.

Cho and Kim therefore finish their men's events with two gold medals each. Thursday's K4 final and the day's other medal races are covered in the day two recap.

Just 0.020 seconds separate fourth and fifth

The gap between fourth and fifth in the men's K2 500 m was even smaller than the winning margin. Kazakhstan's Bekarys Ramatulla and Dmitriy Kholmogorov, bronze medallists in Hefei, finished in 1:35.365, just 0.020 seconds ahead of Chinese Taipei's Yong-Bo Lin and Yung-Chieh Lin.

Earlier, Uzbekistan's Ziyodbek Yuldashaliev and Shakhriyor Makhkamov won the men's K2 semifinal in 1:37.685, with Singapore and Vietnam also qualifying for the A final. Indonesia's Dede Sunandar and Wandi missed the last qualifying place by 0.110 seconds before winning the B final in 1:37.767.

Iran's Kheirabadiasl Hadiyeh and Maede Shoorgashti won the women's C2 500 m semifinal. North Korea finished second, 0.356 seconds behind, and Japan claimed the remaining place in the final.

Four more titles to be decided on Saturday

The canoe sprint programme concludes on Saturday 26 September. The four medal finals are scheduled to start between 11:30 and 12:00 Japan time (04:30–05:00 CEST).

Women's K1 500 m — 11:30 Japan time / 04:30 CEST. Nan Wang, the Asian champion from Hefei and a K4 gold medallist on Friday, faces a field that includes Uzbekistan's Arina Tanatmisheva and Kazakhstan's Stella Sukhanova, who won bronze in Hefei.
Men's K1 500 m — 11:40 Japan time / 04:40 CEST. China have no entry. Taishi Tanada, Friday's K2 silver medallist, won the second heat in 1:43.475, the fastest time of the round. He is the only paddler in the Miyoshi K1 field who won a medal in the event in Hefei. Shakhriyor Makhkamov won the first heat in 1:43.611.
Mixed C2 500 m — 11:50 Japan time / 04:50 CEST. Vladlen Denisov and Nilufar Zokirova will be looking to add to their medal collections. China's crew pairs men's C2 champion Shengyue Wu with women's C2 champion Yanan Ma.
Mixed K2 500 m — 12:00 Japan time / 05:00 CEST. China's Chenhao Li and Luxi Zhang set the fastest time in the heats, 1:40.782. South Korea's Minkyu Choi and Minju Seon won the second heat in 1:40.959, just 0.032 seconds ahead of Kazakhstan.

Full results and the race schedule are available on the 2026 Asian Games results page.

Canoe slalom at the Asian Games begins on 29 September. The ICF Hangzhou Super Cup follows from 1 to 3 October.

Frequently asked questions

Who won the men's C1 500 m at the 2026 Asian Games?

China's Bowen Ji won in 1:47.338. Uzbekistan's Vladlen Denisov took silver in 1:47.945, and Kuan-Chieh Lai of Chinese Taipei won bronze in 1:49.042. It was Ji's second gold of the Games, following his C2 500 m victory on 24 September.

What was the winning time in the men's K2 500 m?

South Korea's Gwang Hee Cho and Hyobin Kim won in 1:31.859. Japan's Taishi Tanada and Masaya Tanaka finished 0.317 seconds behind in 1:32.176. Iran's Ali Aghamirzaeijenaghard and Peyman Ghavidel Siah Sofiani took bronze in 1:32.869.

Which country leads the canoe sprint medal table after day three?

China lead with five golds and two silvers. South Korea are second with two golds, followed by Uzbekistan with one gold, four silvers and one bronze.

Were the podiums the same as at the Asian Championships in Hefei?

In two of Friday's events, the nations finished in the same order. China, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan again took the women's K4 500 m medals, while China, Uzbekistan and Vietnam repeated their women's C2 500 m finishes. In the men's C1 500 m, Ji won again, but Denisov took silver and Lai placed third. South Korea improved from silver to gold in the men's K2 500 m; the Chinese crew that won in Hefei did not contest the event in Miyoshi.

Did South Korea beat China head to head?

Yes. South Korea won Thursday's men's K4 500 m final by 0.255 seconds. The same crews had finished in the opposite order in Hefei, where China won by 0.708 seconds.

Which country has the most medals after China?

Uzbekistan have six medals, one fewer than China. All four of their silvers came in finals won by China. Shohsanam Sherzodova won their gold in the C1 200 m by just 0.016 seconds.

How have the hosts performed?

Japan have won silver in the men's K2 500 m and bronze in the men's K4 500 m. Tanada and Tanaka came closest to gold, finishing just 0.317 seconds behind South Korea in the K2 final.

When are the last canoe sprint finals at the 2026 Asian Games?

The final four medal races take place on Saturday 26 September: women's K1 500 m at 11:30, men's K1 500 m at 11:40, mixed C2 500 m at 11:50 and mixed K2 500 m at 12:00 Japan time. The corresponding CEST start times are 04:30, 04:40, 04:50 and 05:00.

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