The moment all canoeing fans have been waiting for has arrived, on Friday Poznan, Poland will host more than 400 athletes from 40 countries at the 2011 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup; the first major event of the ICF competition calendar. The event begins on 6 May and ends 8 May 2011, and will be held at the Malta Regatta Course. The 2011 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup ONE is organised by the Polish Canoe Federation.

The buzz surrounding the Poznan World Cup is largely due to the record number of teams registered to participate, as well as the fact that the event will be televised live for ICF TV. The ICF has signed an agreement that will enable fans of the sport to watch, LIVE coverage of all 2011 ICF World Cups, European Championships and World Championships. The ICF General Secretary, Simon Toulson commented on this major step to bring the sport into the living room of fans all over the World saying,

The live coverage of our events is an important step in promoting our sport and attracting new audiences.

To further increase the hype of the event, several notable canoe sprint athletes have already confirmed their participation to be in the starting line up for the canoe sprint's most exciting races.

Teams registered include Australia, Brazil, Cuba, France, Great Britain, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland and more; representing all continents.
As with all the other World Cups, racing will be held over the 200m, 500m and 1000m distances. The new Olympic distance will no doubt create
sporting fervor.

Several of last year's winners will begin their season's campaigns in Poznan. In the Women's events, last season's Canoe Sprint World Champion Natasa Janics (HUN) will be out of competition for the year as she is set to become a mother very soon. Omnipresent contenders such as Jo Bridgen-Jones (AUS), who finished second behind Janics in the 2010 ICF Canoe Sprint World Rankings will be there, and Teresa Portela (POR) who is tipped to shine will meet challengers Brigitte Hartley (RSA) and Women's K1 500 Beijing Olympic Inna Osypenko-Radomska ((UKR).

Already a star in his own right, Aleh Yurenia (BEL) in the Men's K1 events will be ready to battle it out with fan favourite and Tim Brabants (GBR) and 2010 Men's 500m World Champion Anders Gustafson (SWE). Another name to watch out for is Steven Ferguson (NZL). In Men's C1, Mathieu Goubel (FRA) will go against Reigning World Champion and Vadim Menkov (UZB).

Teams to watch: Germany,Great Britain (Men), Portugal (Women), France, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and a 33 strong team from host nation Poland!