Men race as individuals, pairs and quads over 200m, 500m and 1000m in both Canoe (Canadian) (C) and Kayak (K) events, giving a total of 18 gold medals. Women compete for only 9 gold medals as they race in kayak events only.
The undoubted stars of the Zagreb event were Natasa Janics and Katalin Kovács of Hungary who completed an unprecedented clean sweep of all three women's K-2 events.
The championships also marked a change of generation as many stars had retired after the Olympics, especially in the women's events. Two-thirds of the winners at Zagreb were first-time gold medallists. Birgit Fischer won her last two of her record 38 medals, including a bronze in the K-2 200 m event with her niece, Fanny.
Germany topped the medal table, winning 10 of the 27 gold medals, followed by Hungary with six golds, then Spain and Russia with two golds each.