Champions
The Champion category recognizes whitewater athletes that have excelled at International and Olympic competitions. They have also contributed to improving training and fostering new talent for the future of Whitewater sports.
Cathy Hearn
Cathy began her two-decade winning career in international competition with an unprecedented three gold medals (1979 World Championship) in slalom, slalom team, and wildwater team events.
Davey Hearn
Davey Hearn dominated the top levels of canoe slalom for over a decade. He was instrumental in collaboration with other top racers, in designing the Max series of canoes that revolutionized slalom racing.
Eric Jackson
Eric Jackson is considered by many to be the best kayaker in the world. No one has excelled at as many different aspects of the sport as Jackson has.
Gilles Zok
Gilles Zok dominated wildwater canoeing through most of the 1980’s and was often described as “a monster to which was grafted a canoe and a paddle.”
Gisela Grothaus-Steigerwald
Gisela's six wildwater world medals makes her the most successful female whitewater kayaker in German history.
Jamie McEwan
Jean-Pierre Burny
Jean-Pierre is often considered one of the greatest whitewater downriver paddlers of all times. He was the dominant force in K1 downriver racing in the 1970’s winning four world championships over a ten-year timeframe, from 1969 to 1979.
Jon Lugbill
Jon is generally considered as the best paddler to ever compete in whitewater canoeing dominating the top levels of canoe slalom for over a decade
Manfred Vogt
Michal Martikan
Michal Martikan has firmly established himself as one of the best C-1 paddlers of all time beginning with his arrival on the international scene at 16 as the youngest winner of a World Cup slalom canoeing event.
Milo Duffek
Milo Duffek was one of the first paddlers to escape communist Czechoslovakia for the west, setting the pattern of frequent international migration that is central to the paddlesport community. Historian Bill Endicott writes: “Duffek never won a gold medal. In Merano Italy at the Worlds he won something even more precious: His Freedom.”
Pavol and Peter Hochschorner
Pavol Hochschorner and Peter Hochschorner are the best Slalom C2 team ever. Anyone who has been a fan of Slalom racing has heard of the Hochschorner twins from Slovakia.
Richard Fox
Richard Fox is a decorated slalom paddler, and the innovator of smooth slalom techniques emulated by many and was the first to use a double torque kayak paddle during the ’89 World Championships.
Scott Shipley
Scott is a three-time Olympian and three-time World Champion in slalom kayak among the many other outstanding medal performances and contributions.
Stepanka Hilgertova
Stepanka Hilgertova started to compete in whitewater slalom in 1980 at the age of 12. Since that time she has competed in five straight Olympic Games.
Tony Estanguet
Tony Estanguet is three-time European champion, three-time world champion and three-time Olympic champion.