ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup Szeged 2026: China Top Medal Table
- Published
- 2026-05-19T15:39:14+00:00
- Author
- PaddleData AI
Full competition results: ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup - Szeged
Mengya Sun delivered three medals and Fernando Pimenta edged Balint Kopasz by 0.08 seconds in K1 M 1000m as the ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup - Szeged 2026 ran from 8 to 10 May on the Maty-er course. China and host Hungary traded leads on the medal table through the weekend, while Portugal swept the men's K1 distance events.
Overview
The 2026 edition of the ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup - Szeged produced 24 finals across sprint, 500m, 1000m and 5000m formats, with China Canoe Sprint and Hungary Canoe Sprint dominating the top of the standings. China's haul was driven by women's canoe, where Mengya Sun anchored gold in C1 W 500m (1:59.00) and C4 W 500m (1:44.65) and added silver in C2 W 500m (1:51.64). Hungary collected the most medals overall on home water, with Zsoka Csikos winning K1 W 1000m in 3:50.12 ahead of compatriot Emese Kohalmi at 3:51.42, and the men's K4 quartet of Bence Nadas, Bence Fodor, Levente Kurucz and Sandor Totka taking gold in 1:18.45.
The medal table below lists the top five nations by gold count.
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | 4 | 4 | 2 | 10 |
| 2 | Hungary | 3 | 8 | 4 | 15 |
| 3 | AIN | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 4 | Portugal | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 5 | Spain | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
Portugal's three golds all came from sprint kayak, with Pimenta winning both K1 M 1000m (3:22.25) and K1 M 5000m (21:55.97) and Pedro Casinha taking K1 M 200m in 0:34.48. AIN's three golds came from canoe disciplines: Sergey Svinarev in C1 M 200m (0:38.05), the C2 M 500m crew of Zakhar Petrov and Ivan Shtyl in 1:35.90, and the C4 M 500m quartet of Alexey Korovashkov, Aleksandr Bots, Dmitrii Sharov and Matvei Arsenov in 1:29.97.
Star Athlete: Mengya Sun's Three-Medal Weekend
Mengya Sun left Szeged 2026 as the event's most decorated athlete with two golds and one silver across three different boat classes. In C1 W 500m she clocked 1:59.00 to beat Canada's Sophia Jensen by 0.75 seconds, with Hungary's Zsofia katalin Csorba third in 2:02.54. She then teamed with Yanan Ma for silver in C2 W 500m at 1:51.64, just 0.09 seconds behind the Ukrainian pair of Liudmyla Luzan and Anastasiia Rybachok (1:51.55). The Hungarian boat of Agnes anna Kiss and Bianka Nagy took bronze in 1:52.66. Sun closed out her programme as part of the gold-medal C4 W 500m crew with Shuqi Li, Li Yang and Yanan Ma, finishing in 1:44.65 — 1.52 seconds clear of Hungary's silver-medal boat.
The Szeged data points to a clear progression from her earlier showings in this series. Historical results at the ICF World Cup show Sun finishing third (0:49.36), fifth (0:49.01) and second (0:50.13) in C1 W 200m heats and finals at the 2025 World Cup. Stepping up to 500m C1 in 2026, she ran a winning 1:59.00 — a result that, paired with the 1:51.64 in C2 W 500m and the C4 W 500m gold, gives her a 2G-1S-0B line across three boat types in a single weekend. Her 2019 results at this series include two C2 W 500m finishes (one win at 2:01.75, one fourth at 1:54.92) and two C2 Mixed 500m wins (1:45.58 and 1:44.73), illustrating the breadth of the boats she has raced under the Szeged World Cup banner.
Records & Technical Analysis
Several finals in Szeged were decided by margins that belong in any tight-racing montage. The K1 M 1000m podium was separated by 0.68 seconds top to bottom: Fernando Pimenta in 3:22.25, Balint Kopasz at 3:22.33 (a 0.08-second gap), and Thomas Green at 3:22.93. The K4 W 500m final was even closer at the front, with the Chinese quartet of Shimeng Yu, Nan Wang, Jie Shen and Mengdie Yin winning in 1:29.61 — just 0.02 seconds clear of the Spanish boat of Barbara Pardo, Lucia Val, Sara Ouzande and Daniela Garcia heredia at 1:29.63.
Other near-misses define the analytics story. In K1 W 500m, Australia's Natalia Drobot beat New Zealand's Aimee Fisher by 0.11 seconds (1:46.43 to 1:46.54), with Poland's Anna Pulawska bronze in 1:47.44. C1 M 500m produced a 0.30-second split between gold for China's Bowen Ji (1:44.43) and silver for Brazil's Isaquias Guimaraes queiroz (1:44.73), with China's Shengyue Wu third (1:45.25). In C1 M 200m, AIN's Sergey Svinarev held off Uzbekistan's Artur Guliev by 0.12 seconds (0.38.05 to 0:38.17), with Spain's Pablo Grana only 0.25 seconds back. Multiple medallists beyond Sun include Liudmyla Luzan (gold C2 W 500m and gold C1 W 200m in 0:43.23), and the Hungarian K4 paddlers Levente Kurucz and Bence Fodor, who added silver in K2 M 500m (1:27.16) behind Germany's Jacob Schopf and Max Lemke (1:27.12) to go with their K4 gold.
What's Next
The Szeged event sits inside a long-running ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup calendar, and the data context lists 13 further editions across the series. Upcoming entries include the 2001 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup, the 2005 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup, the 2007 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup, the 2009 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup Racice, the 2011 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup Duisburg, the 2011 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup Racice, the 2012 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup Duisburg, the 2012 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup Moscow, the 2012 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup, the 2013 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup, the 2015 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup, the 2016 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup Racice and the 2017 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup. Athletes who delivered in Szeged — Pimenta, Mengya Sun, Liudmyla Luzan, Zsoka Csikos and the Hungarian K4 — are regular fixtures across the World Cup series and figure to feature in the broader calendar.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won the K1 M 1000m at ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup Szeged 2026?
Fernando Pimenta of Portugal won K1 M 1000m in 3:22.25, beating Hungary's Balint Kopasz (3:22.33) by 0.08 seconds. Australia's Thomas Green took bronze in 3:22.93.
Which country topped the medal table at Szeged 2026?
China topped the table by gold count with 4 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze (10 total). Hungary collected the most medals overall with 3 gold, 8 silver and 4 bronze (15 total).
Who was the most decorated athlete at the event?
Mengya Sun of China won three medals: gold in C1 W 500m (1:59.00), gold in C4 W 500m (1:44.65) and silver in C2 W 500m (1:51.64).
Who won the women's K1 1000m in Szeged?
Zsoka Csikos of Hungary won K1 W 1000m in 3:50.12, ahead of Emese Kohalmi (3:51.42) and Germany's Caroline Heuser (3:52.34).
What was the closest final at Szeged 2026?
K4 W 500m was decided by 0.02 seconds: China (Shimeng Yu, Nan Wang, Jie Shen, Mengdie Yin) won in 1:29.61 to Spain's 1:29.63.
Did Liudmyla Luzan win in Szeged?
Yes. Liudmyla Luzan won C1 W 200m in 0:43.23 and partnered Anastasiia Rybachok to win C2 W 500m in 1:51.55.
With two golds and a silver across three different boat classes, Mengya Sun was the headline name leaving the Maty-er course, and the next stops on the ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup - Szeged series will tell whether her C1, C2 and C4 form holds across the season.