The men's kayak cross event at the 2026 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships took place on 25 July 2026 at the RIVERSPORT OKC in Oklahoma City, with the qualification time trial on 20 July 2026.

Competition format The kayak cross event is split into two phases – qualification time trials and knockout phase where 3 or 4 paddlers race each other head-to-head. Top 42 paddlers from the individual time trial (which is a medal event in itself) advance to the knockout phase.

Paddlers start their run by sliding off the starting platform several meters above the water. Then they must navigate the downstream and upstream gates. Unlike in classic slalom, paddlers are allowed to touch the gates and even intentionally move them with their paddle, but not with a free hand. There is also a designated zone where paddlers must perform an Eskimo roll.

Athletes can be penalized in three ways in each round, by receiving a fault (FLT) or by being ranked as lower (RAL). Faults are incurred for false starts, missing gates or failing to correctly perform the Eskimo roll. Athletes are ranked as lower (RAL) if they breach the safety requirements of the competition, such as by holding back another athlete with their hands or paddle, deliberately paddling over another athlete's boat, or by making dangerous contact with another athlete's head or body - all other non-dangerous contact is allowed. In each round athletes are ranked first by the order in which they cross the finish line, with those incurring penalties ranked in the following order: FLT, RAL, , .

The final classification of athletes is determined in the following manner: Athletes eliminated at any phase of the competition will be given their rank based on the comparison of the qualification times of athletes eliminated at the same phase. All 3rd ranked athletes will be ranked above all 4th ranked athletes.

Schedule

All times listed are UTC–5.

Date Time Round 20 July 2026 09:34 Time trial25 July 2026 10:40 Round 1 11:41 Repechage round 14:04 Heats 15:23 Quarterfinals 15:53 Semifinals 16:13 Small final 16:27 Final

Results

Time trial

2026 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships – Men's kayak cross individual

Round 1

Top 2 from each race advance to the heats. The rest go to repechage.

Proceed to heats Proceed to repechage

+ Race 1 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 1 Joseph Clarke 2 12 Gabriel De Coster 3 33 Serhii Sovko

+ Race 2 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 13 Mathurin Madoré 2 2 Jakub Krejčí 3 32 Xabier Ferrazzi FLT (S)

+ Race 3 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 42 Dávid Skubík 2 14 Jan Rohrer 3 3 David Llorente 4 31 Ivan Kozlov

+ Race 4 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 4 Matyáš Novák 2 30 Timothy Anderson 3 41 Thomas Ukalovic FLT (6) 4 15 Nicholas Collier FLT (2)

+ Race 5 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 5 Felix Oschmautz 2 29 Ben Haylett 3 40 Felix Sachers 4 16 Hu Zhaoshan

+ Race 6 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 6 Merle Long 2 39 Michal Smolen FLT (3) 3 28 Mateusz Polaczyk FLT (3) 4 17 Martin Dougoud FLT (1)

+ Race 7 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 18 Finn Butcher 2 7 Alex Baldoni 3 38 Pavel Eigel FLT (5) 4 27 Pau Echaniz FLT (S)

+ Race 8 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 8 Vít Přindiš 2 26 Stefan Hengst 3 19 Yuuki Tanaka 4 37 Marek Kulczycki FLT (S, 3)

+ Race 9 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 20 Joris Hello 2 9 Sam Leaver 3 36 Jesús Martínez 4 25 Benjamin Renia

+ Race 10 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 10 Giovanni De Gennaro 2 35 Martin Halčin 3 21 Quan Xin 4 24 Pedro Gonçalves FLT (6)

+ Race 11 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 11 Manuel Ochoa 2 23 Mario Leitner 3 22 Dimitri Marx 4 34 Isaac Zimmerman

Repechage

Top 2 from each race advance to the heats. The rest are eliminated.

Proceed to heats Eliminated

+ Race 1 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 34 Isaac Zimmerman 2 41 Thomas Ukalovic FLT (6) 3 3 David Llorente FLT (3) 4 21 Quan Xin FLT (2, R)

+ Race 2 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 22 Dimitri Marx 2 40 Felix Sachers 3 33 Serhii Sovko 4 15 Nicholas Collier RAL

+ Race 3 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 32 Xabier Ferrazzi 2 16 Hu Zhaoshan 3 38 Pavel Eigel 4 24 Pedro Gonçalves FLT (2)

+ Race 4 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 17 Martin Dougoud 2 37 Marek Kulczycki 3 25 Benjamin Renia 4 31 Ivan Kozlov

+ Race 5 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 27 Pau Echaniz 2 28 Mateusz Polaczyk 3 36 Jesús Martínez 4 19 Yuuki Tanaka FLT (3, 6)

Heats

Top 2 from each race advance to the quarterfinals. The rest are eliminated.

Proceed to quarterfinals Eliminated

+ Race 1 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 1 Joseph Clarke 2 16 Jan Rohrer 3 17 Mario Leitner 4 32 Thomas Ukalovic

+ Race 2 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 24 Dimitri Marx 2 8 Mathurin Madoré 3 9 Finn Butcher 4 25 Pau Echaniz

+ Race 3 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 5 Vít Přindiš 2 12 Jakub Krejčí 3 21 Martin Halčin 4 28 Hu Zhaoshan

+ Race 4 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 4 Merle Long 2 13 Alex Baldoni 3 29 Mateusz Polaczyk 4 20 Timothy Anderson FLT (2)

+ Race 5 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 14 Sam Leaver 2 3 Felix Oschmautz 3 30 Marek Kulczycki 4 19 Ben Haylett

+ Race 6 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 6 Giovanni De Gennaro 2 22 Michal Smolen 3 11 Dávid Skubík FLT (3) 4 27 Isaac Zimmerman FLT (2)

+ Race 7 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 10 Joris Hello 2 23 Martin Dougoud 3 26 Xabier Ferrazzi 4 7 Manuel Ochoa

+ Race 8 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 15 Gabriel De Coster 2 2 Matyáš Novák 3 18 Stefan Hengst 4 31 Felix Sachers

Quarterfinals

Top 2 from each race advance to the semifinals. The rest are eliminated.

Proceed to semifinals Eliminated

+ Race 1 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 1 Joseph Clarke 2 24 Dimitri Marx 3 16 Jan Rohrer FLT (6) 4 8 Mathurin Madoré FLT (2)

+ Race 2 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 4 Merle Long 2 5 Vít Přindiš 3 12 Jakub Krejčí FLT (6) 4 13 Alex Baldoni FLT (5)

+ Race 3 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 14 Sam Leaver 2 3 Felix Oschmautz 3 6 Giovanni De Gennaro 4 22 Michal Smolen FLT (3)

+ Race 4 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 15 Gabriel De Coster 2 23 Martin Dougoud 3 10 Joris Hello 4 2 Matyáš Novák FLT (S)

Semifinals

Top 2 from each race advance to the final. The rest go to the small final.

Proceed to final Proceed to small final

+ Race 1 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 24 Dimitri Marx 2 5 Vít Přindiš 3 1 Joseph Clarke 4 4 Merle Long FLT (3)

+ Race 2 Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 14 Sam Leaver 2 15 Gabriel De Coster 3 23 Martin Dougoud 4 3 Felix Oschmautz

Small final

Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 1 1 Joseph Clarke 2 4 Merle Long 3 23 Martin Dougoud 4 3 Felix Oschmautz

Final

Rank Bib Athlete Country Notes 5 Vít Přindiš 24 Dimitri Marx 14 Sam Leaver 4 15 Gabriel De Coster

Final ranking (Top 42)

The top 42 ranking determined by the knockout rounds.

RankAthleteCountryHeat rank Vít Přindiš 1 Dimitri Marx 2 Sam Leaver 3 4 Gabriel De Coster 4 5 Joseph Clarke 1 6 Merle Long 2 7 Martin Dougoud 3 8 Felix Oschmautz 4 9 Giovanni De Gennaro QF3 (3) 10 Joris Hello QF4 (3) 11 Jakub Krejčí QF2 (3) 12 Jan Rohrer QF1 (3) 13 Matyáš Novák QF4 (4) 14 Mathurin Madoré QF1 (4) 15 Alex Baldoni QF2 (4) 16 Michal Smolen QF3 (4) 17 Finn Butcher H2 (3) 18 Dávid Skubík H6 (3) 19 Mario Leitner H1 (3) 20 Stefan Hengst H8 (3) 21 Martin Halčin H3 (3) 22 Xabier Ferrazzi H7 (3) 23 Mateusz Polaczyk H4 (3) 24 Marek Kulczycki H5 (3) 25 Manuel Ochoa H7 (4) 26 Ben Haylett H5 (4) 27 Timothy Anderson H4 (4) 28 Pau Echaniz H2 (4) 29 Isaac Zimmerman H6 (4) 30 Hu Zhaoshan H3 (4) 31 Felix Sachers H8 (4) 32 Thomas Ukalovic H1 (4) 33 David Llorente RE (3) 34 Benjamin Renia RE (3) 35 Serhii Sovko RE (3) 36 Jesús Martínez RE (3) 37 Pavel Eigel RE (3) 38 Nicholas Collier RE (RAL) 39 Yuuki Tanaka RE (4) 40 Quan Xin RE (4) 41 Pedro Gonçalves RE (4) 42 Ivan Kozlov RE (4)

References