Germany's team for the 2026 Canoe Sprint World Championships in Poznań: no official list yet — what the Europeans and Montreal tell us
- Published
- 2026-08-18T13:40:47+00:00
- Author
- PaddleStats
Full competition results: ICF Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Championships - Poznan
With eight days to the 2026 ICF Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Championships in Poznań (26–30 August), the German Canoe Federation (DKV) has still not published its team — the last official boat list on kanu.de is the one for the World Cup in Montreal, dated 9 July, and the last championship line-up is the European Championships selection of 8 June. That does not mean the squad is a mystery. The DKV's own nomination criteria for Poznań state that "the World Championships team is at the same time the European Championships team", with room for further athletes added on current form. So the honest way to preview Germany is to take the Montemor-o-Velho boat list, overlay what happened in Montreal, and say plainly where the gaps are. The headline boats are not in doubt: Jacob Schopf and Max Lemke, the Olympic K2 500 m champions, and Pauline Jagsch, double European champion in June and K1 500 m winner in Montreal.
Overview: the German boats from the 2026 Europeans — the base for Poznań
The table below is the DKV's official line-up for the European Championships in Montemor-o-Velho (11–14 June), published on kanu.de on 8 June. Under the federation's criteria this is the core of the Worlds team; the Poznań entry list, once published, may add athletes or move seats.
| Event | Germany at the 2026 Europeans (DKV list, 8 June) |
|---|---|
| K1 500 m men | Jacob Schopf |
| K2 500 m men | Jacob Schopf / Max Lemke |
| K4 500 m men | Max Rendschmidt / Max Lemke / Jacob Schopf / Tom Liebscher-Lucz |
| K1 1000 m men | Jakob Thordsen |
| K1 5000 m men | Nico Paufler |
| K1 500 m women | Pauline Jagsch |
| K2 500 m women | Paulina Paszek / Pauline Jagsch |
| K4 500 m women | Paulina Paszek / Nele Reinwardt / Pauline Jagsch / Finja Hermanussen |
| K1 1000 m women | Caroline Heuser |
| K1 5000 m women | Caroline Heuser |
| C1 200 m men | David Töpel |
| C1 500 m men | Moritz Adam |
| C2 500 m men | Florin Bange / Nico Pickert |
| C1 1000 m men | David Bauschke |
| C1 5000 m men | Tim Bechtold |
| C1 200 m women | Hedi Kliemke |
| C1 500 m women | Hedi Kliemke |
| C2 200 m women | Maike Jakob / Carlotta Loske |
| C2 500 m women | Maike Jakob / Carlotta Loske |
| C1 5000 m women | Carlotta Loske |
| C4 500 m mixed | Moritz Adam / Tim Hecker / Maike Jakob / Hedi Kliemke |
Two caveats before the analysis. First, in Montreal the DKV changed several boats at short notice: Max Rendschmidt fell ill, so Jonas Borkowski took his seat in the first K4; Paszek was unwell and raced only the K4, with Finja Hermanussen and Nele Reinwardt forming the K2; and in the canoe group the coaches tested a new C2 of Töpel and Scheibner. Second, Conrad-Robin Scheibner — the men's canoe number one in the DKV's April ranking — is not on the Europeans list at all, but raced the C1 500 m, C1 5000 m and C2 in Montreal. Whether he is in Poznań is exactly the kind of question only the official entry list will answer.
Men's kayak: Schopf, Lemke and a K4 that was disqualified in Montreal
The Schopf/Lemke double is Germany's surest thing. Olympic champions in Paris in 1:26.87, they have won the K2 500 m at the 2025 World Cup on Lake Malta (1:30.36), the 2025 Europeans (1:27.11), the Szeged World Cup in May (1:27.12) and the European Championships in Montemor-o-Velho in June (1:30.92). They did not race the K2 in Brandenburg — Rendschmidt and Tom Liebscher-Lucz took silver there in 1:36.18 — nor in Montreal, where the K2 seat went to Moritz Florstedt and Borkowski (sixth, 1:27.98). Schopf's single is also in shape: silver in Brandenburg (1:45.29), bronze at the Europeans (1:38.12), gold in Montreal (1:36.43).
The K4 500 m is the boat with the harder story. Rendschmidt, Lemke, Schopf and Liebscher-Lucz were fifth in Szeged (1:19.05), won Brandenburg (1:20.42) and took European silver in 1:18.63. Then came Montreal: with Borkowski in for the ill Rendschmidt, the four won its heat in 1:21.30 and was disqualified in the semi-final. The same core boat — with Anton Winkelmann in the fourth seat — won on Lake Malta at the 2025 World Cup in 1:21.34, so the course holds good memories; but Poznań will be the first time since June that the full line-up races together in a championship.
Behind the four, Jakob Thordsen carries the K1 1000 m: eighth in the Olympic final in Paris (3:36.82), fourth at a 2025 World Cup (3:32.42), eighth in Szeged this year (3:27.61) and second in the B final at the Europeans (3:29.67). Nico Paufler has the 5000 m, where he was fifth at the 2024 Worlds in Samarkand (23:45.02), ninth in Szeged and twelfth in Brandenburg this season. Borkowski, born in 2004, is the coming man: U23 world silver in the K2 500 m and bronze in the K4 500 m in Halifax in July, on top of his senior K2 and K4 starts.
Women's kayak: Jagsch's season, and a four with two World Cup bronzes
Jagsch, born in 2003, is having the season of the German team. In the K1 500 m she went fourth in Szeged (1:47.58), silver in Brandenburg (1:54.85), gold at the Europeans (1:47.16) and gold in Montreal (1:51.30). In the K2 500 m with Paulina Paszek she has not lost a final she has started this year: Szeged (1:36.92), Brandenburg (1:49.91) and the Europeans (1:45.90) — three regattas, three golds. Paszek is the team's Olympic anchor: bronze in the Paris K2 with Jule Hake (1:39.46) and silver in the Paris K4 (1:32.62), with Jagsch in that boat.
The K4 500 m — Paszek, Reinwardt, Jagsch, Hermanussen — has been the most consistent German crew boat of the year without yet winning: eighth in Szeged (1:32.98), bronze in Brandenburg (1:34.81), fourth at the Europeans (1:33.55), bronze in Montreal (1:35.44). This is also the boat with the most Poznań history: a German four with Paszek and Jagsch won the K4 on Lake Malta at the 2025 World Cup in 1:32.67. Reinwardt (born 2007) and Hermanussen (born 2006) are the young half of the boat; Reinwardt was junior world champion in the K1 1000 m in 2025.
The youngest name on the list may be the most interesting. Caroline Heuser, born in 2007, has been in the senior K1 1000 m final all season: bronze in Szeged (3:52.34), gold in Brandenburg (3:56.81), sixth at the Europeans, bronze in Montreal (4:15.78) — plus bronze in the K1 5000 m in Montreal (25:33.20). She won two junior world titles in 2025 (K1 500 m and K2 500 m). If the DKV keeps the June plan, she races both women's distance events in Poznań.
Canoe: an open question named Scheibner, a mixed C4 with European silver, and a teenage U23 world champion
The men's canoe group is where the Europeans list and the Montreal reality diverge most. On the June list: David Töpel in the C1 200 m (seventh in Brandenburg, 40.16; ninth at the Europeans, 39.60), Moritz Adam in the C1 500 m (B finals in Szeged and Montreal), David Bauschke in the C1 1000 m — the most solid of the group with sixth in Szeged (3:46.59), fifth at the Europeans (3:44.75) and fourth on Lake Malta at the 2025 World Cup (3:51.11) — Florin Bange and Nico Pickert in the C2 500 m (B finals in Brandenburg and Montreal), and Tim Bechtold in the C1 5000 m (eighth at the Europeans, 24:46.66).
Then there is Scheibner. Born in 1996, he won the DKV's overall ranking in April; on Lake Malta at the 2025 World Cup he took C2 500 m gold with Pickert (1:42.70) and C1 5000 m bronze (23:38.95). He is absent from the Europeans list, but in Montreal he raced the C1 500 m (sixth in the A final, 1:53.86), the C1 5000 m (eighth) and a new C2 with Töpel (fourth in the B final). A German canoe team without a Poznań seat for Scheibner would be a surprise; a Poznań list with him in the C2 would change the men's canoe picture entirely.
The one canoe boat with a 2026 championship medal is the mixed C4: Adam, Tim Hecker, Maike Jakob and Hedi Kliemke took European silver in 1:38.16, and the DKV's June note said this crew is planned for the Worlds programme. Hecker was fifth in the Paris C2 500 m final with Peter Kretschmer (1:41.62).
In the women's canoe the June list has Kliemke in both singles (eighth in the Szeged C1 500 m, 2:04.69) and Jakob/Loske in the doubles, with Carlotta Loske also on the 5000 m. Loske, born in 2007, is the breakout of the German summer: silver in the C1 5000 m in Szeged (28:38.76), bronze in the C1 5000 m at the Europeans (27:09.30), sixth in the European C1 500 m final (2:06.75), then U23 world champion in the C1 500 m in Halifax (2:21.53) with U23 silver over 5000 m. In Montreal, with Kliemke sent home ill, Loske and Jakob were fifth in the C2 500 m A final (2:04.63). Jakob has been fourth in the C1 5000 m in both Szeged and Brandenburg.
What's next: an official list, and four boats to circle
Until the DKV publishes, the reading is this: Germany arrives in Poznań with the Olympic champions in the K2 500 m, a K4 that has won a World Cup and taken European silver this year but was disqualified at its last outing, a women's K2 unbeaten in three finals and a K1 500 m paddler who has won the last two she entered. Those four boats — men's K2, men's K4, women's K2, Jagsch's K1 500 m — are the ones to circle on the Lake Malta programme. The canoe questions (Scheibner, the C2, the mixed C4) will be settled by the entry list.
The championships run from Wednesday 26 August to Sunday 30 August. Germany's list, whenever it lands, joins the squads already published by Hungary, Italy, Denmark and hosts Poland; the schedule and favourites are in the guide to the 2026 Worlds in Poznań.
Frequently Asked Questions
Has Germany announced its team for the 2026 canoe sprint World Championships in Poznań?
Not as of 18 August. The DKV's last published boat list is the one for the Montreal World Cup (9 July); the last championship line-up is the European Championships selection of 8 June. The DKV's nomination criteria state that the World Championships team is the European Championships team, with further athletes possibly added on current form.
Who are Germany's strongest boats for Poznań 2026?
Jacob Schopf and Max Lemke in the K2 500 m — Olympic champions, with gold on Lake Malta in 2025 (1:30.36), in Szeged (1:27.12) and at the Europeans (1:30.92); the men's K4 500 m (Brandenburg gold 1:20.42, European silver 1:18.63); Pauline Jagsch in the K1 500 m (European and Montreal champion) and with Paulina Paszek in the K2 500 m (three finals, three golds in 2026).
When are the 2026 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Poznań?
From Wednesday 26 August to Sunday 30 August 2026 on the Lake Malta regatta course. Nominal entries closed on 16 August. Poznań hosts the Worlds for the fourth time, after 1990, 2001 and 2010.
Why was Germany's men's K4 500 m disqualified in Montreal?
The four raced in Montreal with Jonas Borkowski replacing the ill Max Rendschmidt, won its heat in 1:21.30 and was disqualified in the semi-final. The published result records the disqualification; the same core crew had won Brandenburg (1:20.42) and taken European silver (1:18.63) earlier in the season.
Is Conrad-Robin Scheibner in Germany's team for Poznań?
Unknown until the DKV publishes. He was not on the June European Championships list, but raced the C1 500 m (sixth), C1 5000 m and a C2 with David Töpel in Montreal, and won C2 500 m gold on Lake Malta at the 2025 World Cup with Nico Pickert (1:42.70).
Can Pauline Jagsch win the K1 500 m in Poznań?
Her 2026 in the single: fourth in Szeged (1:47.58), silver in Brandenburg (1:54.85), gold at the Europeans (1:47.16), gold in Montreal (1:51.30). She has won the last two K1 500 m finals she entered and is unbeaten in three K2 500 m finals with Paszek — the form line points at the podium.
Who is Caroline Heuser?
A German kayaker born in 2007 who has been in every senior K1 1000 m A final of 2026 — bronze in Szeged (3:52.34), gold in Brandenburg (3:56.81), sixth at the Europeans, bronze in Montreal (4:15.78) — plus K1 5000 m bronze in Montreal (25:33.20). She won the junior world titles in the K1 500 m and K2 500 m in 2025 and was named for both women's distance events at the Europeans.
Who is Carlotta Loske?
A German canoeist born in 2007: U23 world champion in the C1 500 m in Halifax 2026 (2:21.53), U23 silver over 5000 m, European bronze in the senior C1 5000 m (27:09.30), World Cup silver in the C1 5000 m in Szeged (28:38.76) and fifth in the Montreal C2 500 m A final with Maike Jakob.
The list will come, and when it does the canoe questions will get answers. Until then Germany's Poznań reads as four kayak boats with real medal form and a canoe group in flux; Jacob Schopf and Max Lemke start the K2 500 m as the boat everyone else on Lake Malta is measuring against, and the rest of the World Championships in Poznań will tell whether the K4's Montreal disqualification was a blip or a warning.
Sources: DKV nomination criteria for the 2026 Worlds (kanu.de); DKV boat lists for the European Championships (8 June 2026) and the Montreal World Cup (9 July 2026); ICF (entry deadlines); ICF and ECA results 2024–2026.