The 2009 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships were held 12–16 August 2009 in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, on Lake Banook.
Final preparations were made after the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, with competition format changed for the first time since the 2001 championships.
Media coverage was provided from Canada, Europe and the United States on the Internet, television and mobile phone.
Athlete comments ranged from disgust over the format adjustment made to the canoe sprint program for the 2012 Summer Olympics to not being upset at all.
[1] Dartmouth was awarded the 2009 championships at an ICF Board of Directors meeting in Madrid, Spain, on 23 October 2003.
Support for women's Canadian and the paddle ability events were confirmed at an ICF Board of Directors meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 18–20 March 2009.
[4] In January 2009, ICF Secretary General Simon Toulson visited Halifax for three days and was impressed with the history of canoeing in the area and the development of future canoeists for Canada.
[11][12] The Atlantic Lottery Corporation presented the "Women in Canoe" program that included 21 female canoeists from 12 different countries.
[9] Festival entertainment was sponsored by the Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation, including a "Concert on the Lake" by Matt Mays on 14 August that drew 10,000 spectators.
[9][13] Other sponsors include Bell Aliant as presenters, silver sponsors were The Chronicle Herald of Halifax, CFRQ Q104 FM radio, CBC Sports and the Halifax Water Authority; the bronze sponsors were NOREX, Helly Hansen, Conserve Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia environment, Mills fashion and NELO; government sponsorship of Department of Canadian Heritage, Nova Scotia Health Promotion and Protection, and the Halifax Regional Municipality; other supporters of Mic Mac Mall, CBS Outdoor, Metro Transit of Halifax, and Office Interiors; and friends of Ambassadors, Priority Management, KayakPro, the Office of Aboriginal Affairs,[9] and The Cider House Company Limited.
[16] The ICF sponsored ten athletes in a development program in Romania in early 2009 that allowed them to compete at the world championships.
10,000 people watched 68 countries participate in the opening ceremonies that included Canoe'09 chair Chris Keevill, ICF President José Perurena, and Sport Canada minister Gary Lunn.
[25] The closing ceremonies on 16 August included passing the ICF flag from Dartmouth to the 2010 world championship hosts in Poznań.
[26] Boating safety was discussed along with interactive exhibits on canoe construction and allowing to touch live animals from around the world, including tarantulas and a 12 feet (3.7 m)-long python.
Ronald Rauhe's three medals for Germany at these championships pushed his career total to 20, tying him with Torsten Gutsche (East Germany-Germany: 1989–99).
Other nations with top three finishes included Brazil, Ecuador, Great Britain and the United States.
Kovacs of Hungary stated that the addition of the women's K-1 200 m event for the 2012 Olympics will not change her training routine.
Once this is recognized, the next goal is to get Special Olympic programs at a national level for inclusion into the 2016 Summer Paralympics.
Besides the medalists from this year's world championships being from Italy, the United States, Canada, Brazil and France, other participants included Great Britain and Portugal.
The process to include paddleability into the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil began on 1 October 2009 and approval was reached on 16 July 2010.