Poland's full team for the 2026 Canoe Sprint World Championships in Poznań: 29 athletes named as entries close

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2026-08-17T17:50:18+00:00

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PaddleStats

Full competition results: ICF Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Championships - Poznan

Nominal entries for the 2026 ICF Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Championships in Poznań (26–30 August) closed on Sunday 16 August, and the last piece of the host nation's jigsaw fell into place a day earlier in Wałcz: Wiktor Głazunow and Norman Zezula won the C2 500 m trial in 1:36.01, beating the Kitewski brothers by 0.85 s. Poland will field 29 athletes across 24 events — from Anna Puławska and Martyna Klatt, who defend two world titles, to a group of twenty-somethings fresh from the Under-23 Worlds in Halifax who get their first senior world championships on home water.

Overview: Poland's full squad for Poznań 2026

The four training groups announced their line-ups separately: Ryszard Hoppe's men's kayak on 3 August, Zbigniew Kowalczuk's women's kayak on 5 August, Mariusz Szałkowski's women's canoe on 14 August and Marcin Grzybowski's men's canoe — after the Wałcz race-off for the C2 — on 17 August. Below is the complete Poland team for the canoe sprint World Championships in Poznań 2026, event by event.

Two changes from the original plans need explaining. In the women's K1 200 m Julia Olszewska replaces Puławska: the gap between the 200 m final and the K2 500 m final is too short to recover, so the world champion sticks to the Olympic events. In the men's K1 200 m the national champion Jakub Stepun, world silver medallist in Samarkand 2024 (34.95), gives way to runner-up Wojciech Pilarz — the 200 m clashes with the K4 500 m in the programme and the four is the priority. A third change was forced: Milena Mackiewicz, European bronze medallist in the C2 200 m in June, injured a shoulder, and Amelia Sołtyńska takes her seat in the 200 m double.

The squad has two clear poles. On one side, world championship medallists — Puławska, Klatt, Głazunow, Oleksii Koliadych, Stepun. On the other, athletes born in 2003 or later who came back from the Junior and U23 Worlds in July with medals: Alex Borucki, Weronika Marczewska, Kacper Sieradzan, Jarosław Kajdanek.

Women's kayak: Puławska and Klatt defend two titles, the four keeps its Montreal line-up

Zbigniew Kowalczuk's group is the only Polish unit that has left every major regatta of 2026 with a medal. At the Szeged World Cup Puławska was third in the K1 500 m (1:47.44). In Brandenburg another bronze in the single (1:55.48) and fourth for the double with Klatt (1:51.65). At the European Championships in Montemor-o-Velho two silvers: K1 500 m in 1:48.00 and K2 500 m in 1:46.43. And in July in Montreal came the result the season had been building towards: Klatt/Puławska won the K2 500 m in 1:38.25 and Puławska took silver in the single (1:52.08).

The size of the task on Lake Malta is known. A year ago in Milan Puławska and Klatt became world champions in the K2 500 m and Puławska added K1 500 m gold — two titles to defend at home. The season's shape is the right one: bronze, bronze, silver, gold. Puławska also owns fourth place from the Paris 2024 K4 500 m final (1:33.17), and at the World Cup on Lake Malta last year she won the K1 500 m in 1:49.90 and was second in the double (1:44.58). She knows this course as a winner.

The K4 500 m is the boat Kowalczuk tested in Montreal and left untouched: Sandra Ostrowska in the stroke seat, then Dominika Putto, Olszewska and Katarzyna Kościółek. In Canada it finished fifth (1:35.92). More interesting is what this group did in June: with Adrianna Kąkol in Olszewska's seat the four took European silver in 1:32.34. The coach explains the Olszewska call by the K1 500 m results from the national championships in Bydgoszcz and by two configurations tested at the Iława camp. Putto brings her own 2026 argument: K2 500 m silver with Kąkol in Szeged (1:38.69) and fourth for the same pair in Montreal.

The non-Olympic singles go to young national champions. Olszewska in the K1 200 m was seventh in Montreal (40.19), sixth at the Europeans (40.83) and sixth in Brandenburg. Marczewska, born in 2004, arrives in the K1 1000 m with U23 world bronze from Halifax (4:11.80) — plus U23 gold in the K2 500 m with Martyna Jaskólska (1:45.51) — and sixth in the senior final in Montreal (4:20.34). She skipped the World University Championships in Szeged to be in Poznań. Zuzanna Błażejczak gets the K1 5000 m as, in Kowalczuk's words, "the cherry on top" after her national title and K4 500 m silver at the Junior and U23 Europeans.

Men's kayak and canoe: Hoppe's four, Borucki and the Wałcz double

The men's K4 500 m — Stepun, Valerii Vichev, Sławomir Witczak, Kajdanek — races its fourth consecutive championship in the same line-up. The record in one breath: European bronze in 2025 (1:19.64), World Cup bronze on Lake Malta in May 2025 (1:21.96), ninth at the June Europeans (1:20.62) and sixth in Montreal (1:22.60). Ryszard Hoppe points out that six crews finished within half a second in Canada. That sentence describes both the chance and the risk.

Poland's biggest hope in the singles is twenty years old. Borucki, of KKW 1929 Kraków, won the European K1 500 m title in June in 1:37.75, became U23 world champion over the distance in Halifax in July (1:36.94) with K4 500 m silver on top, and finished fourth in the senior World Cup final in Montreal (1:37.41). Three of his four 500 m finals this year sit between 1:36 and 1:38 — that is the band an A-final place in Poznań will be decided in. The K2 500 m goes to Vichev and Kajdanek, fifth in Montreal (1:27.62), where they beat the Leszczyński/Korsak boat (1:28.76) in a direct Polish duel. Korsak gets the K1 1000 m in return, and Piotr Morawski the K1 5000 m.

In the canoes one man will do the work of three. Głazunow, the 32-year-old world champion in the C1 5000 m from Samarkand 2024 (25:33.56), races the single over 1000 m and 5000 m and the double with Zezula. Over 1000 m this year he was seventh in Szeged (3:47.22), sixth at the Europeans (3:46.95) and fourth in Montreal (4:11.77); in Paris he was sixth in the Olympic final (3:49.05). Over 5000 m he took European bronze in 23:48.72. Marcin Grzybowski is blunt: to fight for an individual medal over 1000 m, Głazunow has to reach the level of Stefanos Dimopoulos, world silver medallist and third at the last Europeans.

The Głazunow/Zezula double was seventh in the Montreal A final (1:39.15). In Saturday's race in Wałcz it clocked 1:36.01 — more than three seconds quicker — and beat Juliusz and Aleksander Kitewski (1:36.86), who had been eighth in Canada (1:39.41). Grzybowski says it straight: if the form holds, this crew can think about the final and a medal. The Kitewski brothers are not going home — Aleksander races the C1 500 m and sits in the four, Juliusz too. The C4 500 m is completed by Sieradzan, U23 world champion in the C1 1000 m from Halifax (4:31.31), and Łukasz Witkowski, World Cup bronze medallist in this event on Lake Malta a year ago (1:32.17).

Koliadych deserves his own paragraph. Twice world champion in the C1 200 m — Halifax 2022 and Samarkand 2024, where he won in 38.66 — and bronze medallist in Duisburg 2023, he has had a season of fourth places: fourth in Brandenburg (39.50), fourth at the Europeans (38.94), fourth in Montreal (41.41). In Szeged he was sixth (39.30). Over 200 m fourth is usually separated from third by less than a tenth.

Women's canoe. The leader is Dorota Borowska, a two-time Olympian and June's European bronze medallist in the C1 200 m (45.50) and C2 200 m (44.91 with Mackiewicz) — her fourth consecutive European C1 200 m podium, a year after winning the title in 45.18. In Paris she was fifth in the C2 500 m final (1:55.75). In Poznań she races the C1 200 m and C1 500 m; Szałkowski chose not to build a double around her to avoid a repeat of Milan, where she had eleven races in her legs before the C1 200 m final. "A medal will be the success for Dorota," the coach says. Ewelina Antos, the national champion, races the C1 5000 m. The crews are young: Amelia Marcinkowska and Maja Rużanowska in the C2 500 m (fifth in the Montreal B final, 2:07.40; the target is an A final), Kaja Lach and Sołtyńska — bronze medallists in the mixed C4 500 m at the Junior and U23 Europeans — in the C2 200 m, and all four together in the C4 500 m.

What's next: five days on Lake Malta, two titles to defend, Olympic points

Racing runs from Wednesday 26 August to Sunday 30 August. For the home crowd the calendar revolves around four boats: Puławska and Klatt's K1 500 m and K2 500 m (two titles to defend), Hoppe's men's K4 500 m and Głazunow/Zezula's C2 500 m. Behind them — Borucki in the K1 500 m and Koliadych in the C1 200 m, both arriving on Lake Malta with a string of fourth places and a single goal.

Points from Poznań count towards the Olympic ranking on the road to Los Angeles 2028, which is the reason Hoppe gives for putting the four ahead of Stepun's 200 m. The hosts' list joins the squads already announced by Hungary, Italy and Denmark; the men's kayak group has its own separate piece, and the schedule and favourites are in the guide to the 2026 Worlds in Poznań.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is in Poland's team for the 2026 canoe sprint World Championships in Poznań?

29 athletes in four groups. Men's kayak: Jakub Stepun, Valerii Vichev, Sławomir Witczak, Jarosław Kajdanek, Przemysław Korsak, Piotr Morawski, Alex Borucki, Wojciech Pilarz. Women's kayak: Anna Puławska, Martyna Klatt, Sandra Ostrowska, Dominika Putto, Julia Olszewska, Katarzyna Kościółek, Weronika Marczewska, Zuzanna Błażejczak. Women's canoe: Dorota Borowska, Ewelina Antos, Amelia Marcinkowska, Maja Rużanowska, Kaja Lach, Amelia Sołtyńska. Men's canoe: Wiktor Głazunow, Norman Zezula, Aleksander Kitewski, Juliusz Kitewski, Oleksii Koliadych, Kacper Sieradzan, Łukasz Witkowski.

Who races Poland's men's C2 500 m in Poznań?

Wiktor Głazunow and Norman Zezula. They won the trial in Wałcz on 15 August in 1:36.01, ahead of Juliusz and Aleksander Kitewski (1:36.86). The same double was seventh in the Montreal World Cup A final (1:39.15).

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. Federations' nominal entries closed on 16 August. Poznań hosts the Worlds for the fourth time, after 1990, 2001 and 2010.

Why are Anna Puławska and Jakub Stepun not racing the K1 200 m in Poznań?

Puławska won the national 200 m title, but the gap between the K1 200 m final and the K2 500 m final is too short to recover, so Julia Olszewska takes the start. Stepun, world silver medallist over 200 m in 2024, races the K4 500 m, which clashes with the 200 m in the programme; Wojciech Pilarz races the 200 m instead.

Will Anna Puławska and Martyna Klatt defend their world titles in Poznań?

The 2026 curve points upward: Puławska's K1 500 m bronze in Szeged (1:47.44) and Brandenburg (1:55.48), two silvers at the Europeans (K1 500 m 1:48.00, K2 500 m 1:46.43), then gold for the double (1:38.25) and silver for the single (1:52.08) in Montreal. They won the last World Cup before the Worlds — the best possible platform for defending the Milan titles.

Is Poland's men's K4 500 m a medal contender on home water?

Stepun/Vichev/Witczak/Kajdanek won World Cup bronze on Lake Malta in 2025 (1:21.96) and European bronze in 2025 (1:19.64), but this season they were ninth at the Europeans (1:20.62) and sixth in Montreal (1:22.60). Six fours finished within half a second in Canada — an A final is within reach; a medal needs the best race of the season.

Can Oleksii Koliadych win a fourth world championship medal in the C1 200 m in Poznań?

He already has two golds (2022, and 2024 in 38.66) and a bronze (2023). In 2026 he was fourth in Brandenburg (39.50), at the Europeans (38.94) and in Montreal (41.41), and sixth in Szeged (39.30). Three straight fourth places say he is tenths, not seconds, off the podium.

Who is Alex Borucki?

A 20-year-old kayaker from KKW 1929 Kraków, senior European champion in the K1 500 m at Montemor-o-Velho 2026 (1:37.75), U23 world champion over the distance in Halifax (1:36.94) and U23 world silver medallist in the K4 500 m. In Montreal he was fourth in the senior World Cup final (1:37.41).

Twenty-nine names, twenty-four events and one course on which Puławska has already won. Anna Puławska sets out to defend two titles on the water where she won a World Cup a year ago; the rest of the World Championships in Poznań will show whether the fourth places of Koliadych, Borucki and Hoppe's four turn into metal.

Sources: Polish Canoe Federation (PZKaj) announcements of 3, 5, 14 and 17 August 2026; ICF (entry deadlines); ICF and ECA results 2024–2026.

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