# 1979 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships

The 1979 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships were held in Duisburg, West Germany.
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 fifteenth championships in canoe sprint. It was where an incident later referred to as The Česiunas Affair took place when Soviet-born Lithuanian canoer Vladas Česiūnas appeared at the event as a spectator only to vanish. The West German government claimed Česiunas had defected, but the former canoer had returned to the Soviet Union voluntarily several weeks later. During Česiunas' disappearance, he would speak in favor of the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott, more than two months before the Soviet–Afghan War, but later returned to the Soviet Embassy in Bonn. The Soviets toned down their rhetoric about Česiunas' "disappearance" in the West and changed his mind all the while West Germany continued to maintain that he had been kidnapped.

## Medal summary
### Men's
#### Canoe

| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| C-1 500 m | Sergey Postrechin (URS) | Ulrich Eicke (GER) | Liubomir Ljubenov (BUL) |
| C-1 1000 m | Tamás Wichmann (HUN) | Liubomir Ljubenov (BUL) | Ivan Patzaichin (ROU) |
| C-1 10000 m | Tamás Wichmann (HUN) | Sergey Liminovich (URS) | Ivan Patzaichin (ROU) |
| C-2 500 m | Romania Ivan Patzaichin Petre Capusta | Soviet Union Sergey Petrenko Aleksandr Vinogradov | Poland Marek Łbik Piotr Pawlowski |
| C-2 1000 m | Soviet Union Vasiliy Jurtzhenko Yuri Lobanov | Hungary Tamás Buday Oszkár Frey | Romania Toma Simionov Gheorghe Simionov |
| C-2 10000 m | Soviet Union Vasiliy Jurtzhenko Yuri Lobanov | Romania Cherasim Munteanu Gheorge Titu | Hungary Tamás Buday László Vaskúti |

#### Kayak

| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| K-1 500 m | Vladimir Parfenovich (URS) | John Sumegi (AUS) | Peter Hempel (GDR) |
| K-1 1000 m | Rüdiger Helm (GDR) | Ion Bîrlădeanu (ROU) | Felix Masár (TCH) |
| K-1 10000 m | Milan Janić (YUG) | Einar Rasmussen (NOR) | Nikolay Stepanenko (URS) |
| K-2 500 m | Soviet Union Vladimir Parfenovich Sergei Chukhray | East Germany Bernd Olbricht Rüdiger Helm | France Alain Lebas Francis Hervieu |
| K-2 1000 m | Norway Einar Rasmussen Olaf Søyland | Hungary Zoltán Bakó István Szabó | Soviet Union Sergei Chukhray Vladimir Tainikov |
| K-2 10000 m | Romania Nicușor Eșanu Ion Bîrlădeanu | Soviet Union Nikolay Astapkovich Vladimir Romanovsky | Spain Herminio Menéndez Luis Gregorio Ramos |
| K-4 500 m | East Germany Bernd Duvigneau Harald Marg Jürgen Dittrich Roland Graupner | Soviet Union Sergey Zhinkarenko Ionas Sautra Sergei Chukhray Vladimir Tainikov | Poland Ryszard Oborski Daniel Wełna Grzegorz Kołtan Grzegorz Śledziewski |
| K-4 1000 m | East Germany Bernd Duvigneau Rüdiger Helm Harald Marg Bernd Olbricht | Poland Ryszard Oborski Daniel Wełna Grzegorz Kołtan Grzegorz Śledziewski | Soviet Union Aleksandr Shaparenko Sergei Nagornyi Aleksandr Avdeyev Ionas Sautra |
| K-4 10000 m | Soviet Union Aleksandr Shaparenko Sergey Nikolskiy Vladimir Morozov Aleksandr Avdeyev | Poland Andrzej Klimaszewski Krzysztof Lepianka Zbigniew Torzecki Zdzisław Szubski | Hungary Tamás Benkő Péter Konecsny László Szabó Zoltán Romhany |

### Women's
#### Kayak

| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| K-1 500 m | Roswitha Eberl (GDR) | Galina Alekseyeva (URS) | Klára Rajnai (HUN) |
| K-2 500 m | Soviet Union Natalya Kalashinkova Nina Doroh | East Germany Marion Rösiger Martina Bischof | Romania Agafia Orlov Natasia Nichitov |
| K-4 500 m | East Germany Marion Rösiger Martina Bischof Birgit Fischer Roswitha Eberl | Soviet Union Galina Alekseyeva Nadezhda Trachimenok Tatyana Korzhunova Larissa Nadviga | Romania Agafia Orlov Natasia Nichitov Maria Nicolae Adriana Tarasov |

## Medals table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Soviet Union (URS) | 7 | 6 | 3 | 16 |
| 2 | East Germany (GDR) | 5 | 2 | 1 | 8 |
| 3 | Romania (ROU) | 2 | 2 | 5 | 9 |
| 4 | Hungary (HUN) | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| 5 | Norway (NOR) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | Yugoslavia (YUG) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | Poland (POL) | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 8 | Bulgaria (BUL) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 9 | Australia (AUS) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | West Germany (FRG) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 11 | France (FRA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 11 | Spain (ESP) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (13 entries) | Totals (13 entries) | 18 | 18 | 18 | 54 |