Canoe Marathon Worlds 2026: Fernandes and Ushakova win junior C1 titles

Published

2026-10-23T10:11:18+00:00

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PaddleStats

Full competition results: ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships - Gualeguaychu

Portugal's Gabriel Fernandes edged the junior men's C1 final by just 2.97 seconds at the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships in Gualeguaychú, Argentina, on Thursday. Daria Ushakova, competing as an Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN), took the junior women's title. Eight short-race heats also decided the 80 places in Friday's four K1 finals. All three senior men's short-race medallists from Győr 2025 — Fernando Pimenta, Mads Brandt Pedersen and José Ramalho — qualified.

Thursday 22 October, the second day of racing in Gualeguaychú, featured ten races, with 160 paddlers on the start lists representing 30 countries and the neutral-athlete contingent. Medals were awarded in the two junior canoe finals. The rest of the programme comprised K1 short-race heats for junior and senior men and women, each covering 3.4 km with three laps and two portages.

Spain lead the combined podium standings

Spain have the most wins across the first two days. The table below combines all nine finals held so far: seven paracanoe races on Wednesday and two junior finals on Thursday. It is a combined podium tally, not a separate World Championships medal table. The organisers label the Wednesday races WCup in their protocols and the Thursday C1 finals WCH.

Thursday's medals went to athletes from three countries and to one neutral athlete. Portugal added Maria Sousa's bronze in the junior women's C1 to Fernandes's gold. Canada reached the podium in both races, with silver for Victoria Tran and bronze for Matthew Brown. That puts Canada second in the combined standings, level with Spain on total medals but with one fewer gold. Danylo Martynenko took silver for the Czech Republic in the junior men's C1.

Spain did not win a medal on Thursday, so their lead in this combined tally rests on Wednesday's paracanoe results. There are still 29 finals on the programme, including the remaining paracanoe races and every senior long-distance event.

Gabriel Fernandes wins junior C1 by 2.97 seconds

The junior men's C1 was Thursday's longest race. The 15.4 km course comprised four full laps, a short lap and three portages, where paddlers get out and carry their boats along a stretch of bank before returning to the water. Fernandes, born in 2009, won in 55:57.74.

Martynenko finished just 2.97 seconds behind him, the smallest winning margin in the nine finals held so far, including Wednesday’s seven paracanoe races. Brown took bronze, 55.15 seconds behind Fernandes. Hungary's Bálint Balázs placed fourth, 2:19.94 down. Ten paddlers finished, two retired and one did not start.

Fernandes arrived as the European junior short-race champion. At the European Canoe Marathon Championships in Pitești in June he won the C1 short race in 16:56.67. He also took long-distance silver, 38.91 seconds behind Spain’s Mateo Lago, who did not finish Thursday’s race in Gualeguaychú.

Argentina’s sole representative, Mirko Havilio, finished sixth in 1:02:06.10. The youngest in the field was Uruguay's Lucas Mernie, born in 2011, who finished tenth.

Fernandes is also entered in Friday’s junior men’s C2 at 14:35 local time alongside Duarte Cunha, who did not start Thursday’s C1. The seven-boat field also includes a Hungarian crew featuring Balázs.

Ushakova makes her move on the third lap

The junior women’s C1 opened the day’s racing at 8:30. All 13 starters completed the 11.8 km course, which comprised three full laps, a short lap and two portages. Ushakova won in 1:01:40.91. Tran came home 26.95 seconds later, and Sousa took bronze, 2:28.49 down.

Ushakova made the decisive move between the second and third timing points. At the first, Ushakova led the Canadian by three seconds. At the second, Tran was in front by five. Ushakova covered the next section in 19:51 to Tran's 20:23, which put her 27 seconds clear at the third timing point. Their times over the final section were almost identical, leaving the gap virtually unchanged at the finish.

Ushakova and Tran were both born in 2008, and Sousa in 2009. Italy's Sofia Postolachi finished fourth, 3:31.60 behind the winner, followed by Britain's Isabella Keane and Hungary's Flóra Ördögh. The best-placed of Argentina’s two paddlers, Carmina Gomez, was eleventh.

Ushakova and Tran are also among the 18 paddlers on the official start list for Friday’s senior women’s C1 short-race final at 8:50 local time. Brown is entered in the senior men’s C1 short-race final at 9:30.

Short-race heats: Pedersen fastest, Pimenta through

Twenty paddlers reached each of the four K1 short-race finals: the top six from each heat plus the eight fastest of the rest. Denmark's Mads Brandt Pedersen, the 2025 world champion in the long-distance K1 (29.2 km in Győr), set the fastest time of all the heats. He won the first senior men's heat in 11:50.69, 1.33 seconds ahead of South Africa's Ulvard Hart. Spain's Adrián Prada was third and Hungary's Brúnó Kolozsvári fourth.

The second senior men’s heat produced a slower winning time but a closer finish. Just 2.86 seconds separated the first six finishers. Argentina's Franco Balboa won in 12:03.17, with Britain's James Russell 0.45 seconds back and Fernando Pimenta third, 0.68 seconds behind. Pimenta, an Olympic silver medallist in the K2 1000 m in London and bronze medallist in the K1 1000 m in Tokyo, is the defending short-race champion: in Győr he beat Pedersen by 0.92 seconds. On Thursday he finished just ahead of France's Pierre Vilella and South Africa's Hamish Lovemore.

Portugal will have a second man in the senior final: José Ramalho, born in 1982, the short-race bronze medallist in Győr, who was fifth in the first heat. Czech paddler Filip Jahoda was the first to miss out, finishing 1.30 seconds slower than the last qualifier, Hungary’s Bálint Noé.

Sweden’s Melina Andersson set the fastest time among the senior women. The 2025 long-distance world champion and short-race silver medallist won the first heat in 12:53.45, 13.04 seconds ahead of Germany's Caroline Heuser, the biggest winning margin of any heat on Thursday. Australia's Rebecca Mann won the second heat in 13:11.38. Two short-race medallists from Pitești also went through: Hungary's Panna Csépe, the silver medallist there, and Spain's Miriam Vega, who took bronze.

Hungary's Ármin Pálinkás was the fastest junior man. He won the second heat in 11:57.93, 1.31 seconds ahead of Spain's Jaime Escuder, the European junior short-race silver medallist. Italy's Leonardo Candela won the first heat. The battle for the last qualifying place was closest in this category: Germany's Elias Geike made the final in 12:49.57, while Uruguay's Valentín Rossi missed out by 0.45 seconds.

Denmark's Karen Andersen, the European junior short-race champion, won the second junior women's heat in 13:53.58. Britain's Dianora De Bilio won the first in 13:50.64, the fastest junior women's time. Ireland's Caoilin Caffrey, born in 2011, was third in the first heat, 2.41 seconds behind the winner.

Masters winners reach the senior final

Three gold medallists from the masters racing on the same river on Monday and Tuesday, 19–20 October, lined up in Thursday’s senior women’s heats. Two reached the final. Their winning masters events were designated World Cup (WCup) races in the official protocols.

Argentina's María Garro, born in 1989, was third in the first heat in 13:07.70. She had won two masters golds earlier in the week: the women's K2 35–39 with Micaela Maslein and the mixed K2 35–44 with Rodrigo Caffa. She competed at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in the K4 500 m.

South Africa's Bridgitte Hartley, born in 1983, was eighth in the second heat in 13:43.56 and went through on time. Earlier in the week, she won the masters women’s K1 40–44 and took mixed K2 35–44 silver with Clinton Cook, 46.65 seconds behind Garro and Caffa. Hartley won Olympic bronze in the K1 500 m at London 2012.

Chile's Goviana Reyes, the winner of the masters women’s K1 35–39, missed out after finishing twelfth in the second heat.

What's next: six short-race finals on Friday

Friday has 19 races, more than any other day of the championships. The updated timetable places all six short-race finals on Friday. Four open the day: junior women's K1 at 8:30 local time (12:30 BST, 13:30 CEST), senior women's C1 at 8:50, senior women's K1 at 9:10 and senior men's C1 at 9:30. After seven paracanoe races, the junior men's K1 final starts at 12:00 and the senior men's K1 final at 12:20 (16:20 BST, 17:20 CEST), with Pedersen, Balboa, Pimenta and Ramalho on the start list. The long-distance programme follows, with junior women’s K1, junior men’s C2 and four under-23 events. The men’s under-23 K1 closes the day at 16:45.

On Saturday the senior women and men race the long-distance K1, along with senior men's C1, junior men's K1 and junior women's K2. Sunday closes the championships with senior women's C1, senior men's C2 and three K2 races.

Wednesday's racing is covered in our paracanoe day recap, and the masters in our masters recap. Full masters results are on the Masters Canoe Marathon World Championships page.

Frequently asked questions

Who won medals at the Canoe Marathon World Championships on 22 October 2026?

In the junior men's C1, Gabriel Fernandes (Portugal) won ahead of Danylo Martynenko (Czech Republic) and Matthew Brown (Canada). In the junior women's C1, Daria Ushakova (AIN) won ahead of Victoria Tran (Canada) and Maria Sousa (Portugal).

What were the winning margins?

Fernandes won by 2.97 seconds and Ushakova by 26.95 seconds. Thursday's other eight races were short-race heats with no medals.

Who qualified for the short-race finals?

The top six in each heat qualified automatically, along with the eight fastest remaining paddlers across the two heats, giving each of the four K1 finals a field of 20. The fastest heat times came from Mads Brandt Pedersen among senior men (11:50.69), Melina Andersson among senior women (12:53.45), Ármin Pálinkás among junior men (11:57.93) and Dianora De Bilio among junior women (13:50.64).

How long are the courses in Gualeguaychú?

The short race covers 3.4 km: three laps and two portages. The junior women’s C1 covered 11.8 km with two portages, while the junior men’s C1 covered 15.4 km with three.

How did Fernando Pimenta fare in the heats before defending his title?

The defending champion finished third in the second heat, 0.68 seconds behind Balboa. Pedersen set the fastest time in the first heat, although times alone do not tell the full story, as tactics can vary between heats.

Can Spain hold on to the lead in the combined podium standings?

That remains open. Spain’s two wins came in Wednesday’s paracanoe races, which were designated WCup, and 29 finals remain on the programme. This is a combined tally rather than a separate World Championships medal table. Spanish paddlers qualified for all four K1 short-race finals on Thursday.

Can Ushakova and Tran win another medal on Friday?

Yes, this time in the senior category. Both are among the 18 paddlers on the official start list for the senior women’s C1 short-race final.

What time are Friday's finals in Europe?

The junior women’s K1 final is scheduled for 12:30 BST (13:30 CEST), with the senior men’s K1 final at 16:20 BST (17:20 CEST).

Gabriel Fernandes was runner-up in the long-distance race at the European Championships in June and is now world champion. On Friday he goes for a second medal in the junior men's C2 with Duarte Cunha, as the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships run through Sunday.

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