The lead story from the World Championships in Oklahoma City has to be Evy Leibfarth’s silver-medal performance in women’s kayak, where she was beaten only by Australia’s Jessica Fox, one of the greatest paddlers in the history of the sport.
Although still just 22 years old, Leibfarth has already competed in three World Championships and two Olympic Games. Her résumé includes an Olympic bronze medal in C1, and a World Championship medal in kayak cross.
But to fully appreciate what Leibfarth accomplished this week, you have to understand the depth and intensity of the competition she faced. The 2026 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships brought 250 athletes from 50 countries to the man-made course in Oklahoma City, designed by three-time World Cup champion Scott Shipley of S20/Calibre Engineering, competing on a course that demanded an extraordinary combination of speed, precision, and patience.
The difficulty of the course was evident throughout the competition. Among the world’s top-ranked men, seven of the 30 paddlers in the semifinal missed a gate, each mistake resulting in a 50-second penalty, likely from pressing too hard. The margins separating the best are razor-thin, and several of the world’s top-ranked athletes failed to reach the finals…