The 1978 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships were held in Belgrade, Yugoslavia for a record third time. The Yugoslavian (now Serbian) city had previously hosted the championships in 1971 and 1975.
The men's competition consisted of six Canadian (single paddle, open boat) and nine kayak events. Three events were held for the women, all in kayak.
This was the fourteenth championships in canoe sprint.
Medal summary Men's Canoe Event Gold Time Silver Time Bronze TimeC-1 500 m C-1 1000 m C-1 10000 m C-2 500 m László FoltánIstván Vaskúti Sergey PetrenkoPetras Grigonis Gheorghe SimionovToma SimionovC-2 1000 m Tamás BudayOszkár Frey Gheorghe SimionovToma Simionov Sergey PostrechinYuri LobanovC-2 10000 m Tamás BudayLászló Vaskúti Gheorghe SimionovToma Simionov Viktor VorobiyevAleksandr Beleyi
Kayak Event Gold Time Silver Time Bronze TimeK-1 500 m K-1 1000 m K-1 10000 m K-2 500 m Bernd OlbrichtRüdiger Helm Nicușor EșanuIon Bîrlădeanu Sergei ChukhrayVladimir TainikovK-2 1000 m Sergei ChukhrayVladimir Tainikov Einar RasmussenOlaf Søyland Zoltán BakóIstván SzabóK-2 10000 m Zoltán BakóIstván Szabó Alain LebasJean-Paul Hanquier Nicușor EșanuGrigore ConstantinK-4 500 m Peter BischofBernd DuvigneauRoland GraupnerHarald Marg Herminio MenéndezMartin VázquezJosé Ramón LópezLuis Gregorio Ramos Ryszard OborskiDaniel WełnaGrzegorz KołtanGrzegorz ŚledziewskiK-4 1000 m Bernd OlbrichtBernd DuvigneauRüdiger HelmHarald Marg Nicușor EșanuIon BîrlădeanuMihai ZafiuAlexandru Giura Herminio RodriguezJosé María EstebanJosé Ramón LópezLuis Gregorio RamosK-4 10000 m Aleksandr ShaparenkoSergey NikolskiyVladimir MorozovAleksandr Avdeyev Andrzej KlimaszewskiKrzysztof LepiankaZbigniew TorzeckiZdzisław Szubski Cuprian MacarencuCiobann MarianStefan PopaNicolae Țicu
Women's Kayak Event Gold Time Silver Time Bronze TimeK-1 500 m K-2 500 m Marion RösigerMartina Fischer Natalya KalashinkovaNina Doroh Agafia OrlovNatasia NichitovK-4 500 m Marion RösigerRoswitha EberlCarsta GenäußMartina Fischer Vanja GeschevaMaria MintschevaNatascha JanakievaIliana Nikolova Agafia OrlovNatasia NichitovMaria NicolaeNastasia Buri
Medals table
References ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships - Part 1: flatwater (now sprint): 1936-2007. ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships - Part 2: rest of flatwater (now sprint) and remaining canoeing disciplines: 1936-2007.