Canoe slalom isn’t amongst the highest-profile sports in the USA, but if there’s one thing Oklahomans of all ages love, it’s a good rodeo. And if there’s any sport worthy of the “whitewater rodeo” moniker, it’s canoe slalom.
Naturally, the two will meet in a big way two years ahead of the Olympic Games LA 2028 – with the Sooner State set to host canoe slalom competitions during the Olympics – as 2026 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships take place at the OKC Whitewater Center from 20-25 July.
Bursting at the seams with seven reigning world champions and multiple Olympic medallists, the entry list – including 256 paddlers – is positively stacked for the biggest canoe slalom competition of the season.
Home favourites Evy Leibfarth and Casey Eichfeld will look to spearhead a historic world championships performance for Team USA, while Olympic champions Jessica Fox and Nicolas Gestin will hope to impress the Oklahoma crowd with their speed and skill.
With 12 world titles up for grabs, and canoe slalom still as unpredictable and thrilling as ever, expect a rowdy, raucous, and memorable whitewater rodeo in Oklahoma City. Scroll down to learn you need to know about the 2026 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships.
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2026 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships: Top paddlers in action
Becoming the first paddler from the United States to win a medal at the Olympic Games since Rebecca Giddens at Athens 2004 with her bronze medal in women’s canoe at Paris 2024, Leibfarth enters the competition as the local favourite and multiple medal threat.
With two medals in kayak cross medals (one silver and one bronze) to her name already this season on the World Cup circuit, she’ll be someone to watch in both the traditional slalom and kayak cross formats at just 22 years old.
Of course, she’ll have to beat two titans of the sport if she wants to inhabit the top step of the podium, namely Australia’s Fox – the most decorated canoe slalom athlete in Olympic history – and Poland’s Klaudia Zwolińska – reigning world champion in both canoe and kayak.
While Fox missed much of last season due to kidney surgery, missing her home World Championships in the process, she’s come back even stronger this year, winning three World Cup races – in both canoe and kayak – as she looks to add more hardware to her haul of 22 World Championship medals.
She’ll certainly be eager to face Zwolińska, who made the most of Fox’s absence last year, following up a silver medal in women’s kayak at Paris 2024 with two world titles in two different boat classes and a bronze in kayak cross at the 2025 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships.
French duo Angèle Hug – reigning world champion and silver medallist at Paris 2024 – and Camille Prigent will also look to rule over the rough-and-tumble world of kayak cross, going head-to-head with many of world’s top paddlers, including British star Kimberley Woods and Brazilian icon Ana Sátila.
READ MORE: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/icf-canoe-slalom-world-championships-2026-stars-schedule-how-to-watch
