1948 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships

The 1948 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships were held in London, Great Britain. This event was held under the auspices of the International Canoe Federation, formed in 1946 from the Internationale Repräsentantenschaft Kanusport (IRK).

The men's competition consisted of four kayak events. One kayak event was held for the women. The women's distance was reduced from 600 m to 500 m at these championships. These events were extraordinary since they were not included in the 1948 Summer Olympics, also held in London.

This was the second championships in flatwater racing and the first one after World War II ended.

Medal summary

Men's kayak

Event	Gold	Time	Silver	Time	Bronze	Time
K-1 500 m	Gert Fredriksson (SWE)	2:14.2[1]	Lars Glassér (SWE)	2:15.0[1]	Poul Agger (DEN)	2:15.4[1]
K-1 4 x 500 m relay	Sweden Lars Glassér Lars Helsvik Lennart Klingström Gert Fredriksson	8:44.5[1]	Norway Ivar Mathisen Ivar Iversen Hans Martin Gulbrandsen Eivind Skabo	8:52.2[1]	Denmark Bernhard Jensen Poul Agger Ejvind Hansen Johan Andersen	8:56.9[1]
K-2 500 m	Finland Thor Axelsson Nils Björklöf	2:06.4[1]	Denmark Alfred Christensen Finn Rasmussen	2:07.0[1]	Denmark Bernhard Jensen Ejvind Hansen	2:08.1[1]
K-4 1000 m	Sweden Hans Berglund Lennart Klingström Gunnar Åkerlund Hans Wetterström	4:01.9[1]	Albert Umgeher	4:06.8[1]	Ota Krouthil Miloš Pech	4:08.1[1]

Women's kayak

Event	Gold	Time	Silver	Time	Bronze	Time
K-2 500 m	Bodil Svendsen	2:22.9[1]	Czechoslovakia Marta Kohoutová Růžena Košťálová	2:23.0[1]	Gertrude Liebhardt	2:24.0[1]

Medals table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Sweden (SWE)	3	1	0	4
2	Denmark (DEN)	1	1	3	5
3	Finland (FIN)	1	0	0	1
4	Austria (AUT)	0	1	1	2
	Czechoslovakia (TCH)	0	1	1	2
6	Norway (NOR)	0	1	0	1
Totals (6 entries)		5	5	5	15

References

• International Canoe Federation
• 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.