The 1986 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships were held in Montreal, Canada at the Notre Dame Island. This is also where the canoeing and rowing competitions for the 1976 Summer Olympics took place.

The men's competition consisted of six Canadian (single paddle, open boat) and nine kayak events. Three events were held for the women, all in kayak.

This was the 20th championships in canoe sprint.

Medal summary

Men's

Canoe

Event	Gold	Time	Silver	Time	Bronze	Time
C-1 500 m	Olaf Heukrodt (GDR)		Aurel Macarencu (ROU)		Nikolay Bukhalov (BUL)
C-1 1000 m	Aurel Macarencu (ROU)		Ivan Klementiev (URS)		Ivan Šabjan (YUG)
C-1 10000 m	Aurel Macarencu (ROU)		Ivan Šabjan (YUG)		Didier Hoyer (FRA)
C-2 500 m	Hungary János Sarusi Kis István Vaskuti		Soviet Union Viktor Reneisky Aleksandr Kalnitzhenko		East Germany Ulrich Papke Ingo Spelly
C-2 1000 m	Hungary János Sarusi Kis István Vaskuti		Poland Marek Łbik Marek Dopierała		West Germany Wolfram Faust Hartmut Faust
C-2 10000 m	Poland Marek Łbik Marek Dopierała		Romania Dumitru Bețiu Vasile Lehaci		Denmark Arne Nielsson Christian Frederiksen

Kayak

Event	Gold	Time	Silver	Time	Bronze	Time
K-1 500 m	Jeremy West (GBR)		Zsolt Gyulay (HUN)		Igor Nagayev (URS)
K-1 1000 m	Jeremy West (GBR)		Ferenc Csipes (HUN)		Harry Nolte (GDR)
K-1 10000 m	Ferenc Csipes (HUN)		Bernard Brégeon (FRA)		Stanislav Boreyko (URS)
K-2 500 m	West Germany Reiner Scholl Thomas Pfrang		Hungary András Rajna Attila Adrovicz		Soviet Union Viktor Pusev Sergey Superata
K-2 1000 m	Romania Daniel Stoian Angelin Velea		East Germany André Wohllebe Frank Fischer		Australia Kerry Grant Steven Wood
K-2 10000 m	Hungary Gábor Kulcsár László Gindl		Soviet Union Sergey Korneyevez Viktor Detkovskiy		Romania Daniel Stoian Angelin Velea
K-4 500 m	East Germany Andreas Stähle Frank Fischer André Wohllebe Jens Fiedler		Soviet Union Aleksandr Matushenko Sergey Kirsanov Nikolay Zhersen Viktor Denisov		West Germany Gilbert Schneider Detlef Schmidt Volker Kreutzer Thomas Reineck
K-4 1000 m	Hungary Ferenc Csipes Zsolt Gyulay László Fidel Zoltán Kovács		East Germany Guido Behling Hans-Jörg Bliesener Jens Fiedler Thomas Vaske		Poland Robert Chwiałkowski Kazimierz Krzyżański Grzegorz Krawców Wojciech Kurpiewski
K-4 10000 m	Soviet Union Nikolay Oselez Grigory Medvedev Sergey Kislev Aleksandr Akunichikov		Romania Ionel Constantin Nicolae Feodosei Ionel Letcae Alexandru Dulău		Hungary Tibor Böjti Tibor Helyi László Nieberl Kálmán Petrovics

Women's

Kayak

Event	Gold	Time	Silver	Time	Bronze	Time
K-1 500 m	Vania Gesheva (BUL)		Kathrin Giese (GDR)		Yvonne Knudsen (DEN)
K-2 500 m	Hungary Katalin Povázsán Erika Mészáros		Soviet Union Nelli Korbukova Tatyana Zhistova		Bulgaria Vania Gesheva Diana Paliski
K-4 500 m	Hungary Erika Géczi Erika Mészáros Rita Kőbán Éva Rakusz		Soviet Union Nelli Korbukova Anzhela Nadtochayeva Tatyana Zhistova Olga Slapina		Romania Tecia Borcaena Luminata Munteanu Marina Ciiucur Anna Larie

Medals table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Hungary (HUN)	7	3	1	11
2	Romania (ROU)	3	3	2	8
3	East Germany (GDR)	2	3	2	7
4	Great Britain (GBR)	2	0	0	2
5	Soviet Union (URS)	1	6	3	10
6	Poland (POL)	1	1	1	3
7	Bulgaria (BUL)	1	0	2	3
	West Germany (FRG)	1	0	2	3
9	France (FRA)	0	1	1	2
	Yugoslavia (YUG)	0	1	1	2
11	Denmark (DEN)	0	0	2	2
12	Australia (AUS)	0	0	1	1
Totals (12 entries)		18	18	18	54