The 1989 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships were held in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

The men's competition consisted of eight Canadian (single paddle, open boat) and nine kayak events. Five events were held for the women, all in kayak. Men's C-4 500 m and C-4 1000 m were added along with women's K-1 5000 m and K-2 5000 m.

This was the 22nd championships in canoe sprint.

Medal summary

Men's

Canoe

Event	Gold	Time	Silver	Time	Bronze	Time
C-1 500 m	Michał Śliwiński (URS)		Olaf Heukrodt (GDR)		Martin Marinov (BUL)
C-1 1000 m	Ivan Klementiev (URS)		Larry Cain (CAN)		Gáspár Boldizsár (HUN)
C-1 10000 m	Ivan Klementiev (URS)		Zsolt Bohács (HUN)		Jan Bartůněk (TCH)
C-2 500 m	Soviet Union Viktor Reneisky Nicolae Juravschi		Poland Tomasz Goliasz Marek Łbik		France Joël Bettin Philippe Renaud
C-2 1000 m	Denmark Arne Nielsson Christian Frederiksen		France Olivier Boivin Didier Hoyer		Soviet Union Yuriy Gurin Valeriy Veshko
C-2 10000 m	Denmark Arne Nielsson Christian Frederiksen		France Olivier Boivin Didier Hoyer		Great Britain Andrew Train Stephen Train
C-4 500 m	Soviet Union Viktor Reneisky Nicolae Juravschi Yuriy Gurin Valeriy Veshko		Hungary Attila Szabó Zsolt Varga György Zala Ervin Hoffmann		France Benoît Bernard Joël Bettin Philippe Renaud Pascal Sylvoz
C-4 1000 m	Soviet Union Viktor Reneisky Nicolae Juravschi Yuriy Gurin Valeriy Veshko		Hungary Gusztáv Leikep Attila Szabó Gábor Takács Ervin Hoffmann		Bulgaria Dejan Bonev Nikolay Bukhalov Hristo Georgiev Paisiy Lubenov

Kayak

Event	Gold	Time	Silver	Time	Bronze	Time
K-1 500 m	Martin Hunter (AUS)		Kay Bluhm (GDR)		Mike Herbert (USA)
K-1 1000 m	Zsolt Gyulay (HUN)		Torsten Krentz (GDR)		Kalle Sundqvist (SWE)
K-1 10000 m	Attila Szabó (TCH)		Stanislav Boreyko (URS)		José Garcia (POR)
K-2 500 m	East Germany Kay Bluhm Torsten Guitsche		Soviet Union Sergey Kalesnik Anatoly Tishchenko		Poland Maciej Freimut Wojciech Kurpiewski
K-2 1000 m	East Germany Kay Bluhm Torsten Guitsche		Soviet Union Vladimir Bobrezhov Artūras Vieta		Hungary Attilia Andorvicz Zoltán Berkes
K-2 10000 m	Hungary Attila Ábrahám Sándor Hódosi		Great Britain Grayson Bourne Ivan Lawler		Soviet Union Vladimir Gordilley Gennadiy Vassilenko
K-4 500 m	Soviet Union Viktor Denisov Sergey Kirsanov Aleksandr Motuzenko Viktor Pusev		West Germany Volker Kreutzer Thomas Pfrang Reiner Scholl Mario von Appen		Bulgaria Andrian Dushev Petar Godev Nikolay Jordanov Ivan Marinov
K-4 1000 m	Hungary Ferenc Cspies Attila Ábrahám Zsolt Gyulay Sándor Hódosi		Poland Robert Chwiałkowski Maciej Freimut Grzegorz Krawców Wojciech Kurpiewski		East Germany Guido Behling Torsten Krentz Thomas Vaske André Wohllebe
K-4 10000 m	Soviet Union Vladimir Bobreshov Aleksandr Myzgin Sergey Superata Artūras Vieta		Hungary Gábor Kulcsár Ákos Angyal Ferenc Csipes László Vincze		Poland Andrzej Gajewski Tomasz Franaszek Grzegorz Kaleta Mariusz Rutkowski

Women's

Kayak

Event	Gold	Time	Silver	Time	Bronze	Time
K-1 500 m	Katrin Borchert (GDR)		Izabela Dylewska (POL)		Josefa Idem (FRG)
K-1 5000 m	Katrin Borchert (GDR)		Izabela Dylewska (POL)		Josefa Idem (FRG)
K-2 500 m	East Germany Anke Nothnagel Heike Singer		Hungary Éva Dónusz Erika Mészáros		Soviet Union Irina Salomykova Galina Savenko
K-2 5000 m	East Germany Monika Bunke Ramona Portwich		Romania Marina Bituleanu Lumineta Hertea		Soviet Union Aleksandra Apanovich Nadezhda Kovalevich
K-4 500 m	East Germany Katrin Borchert Monika Bunke Heike Singer Anke Nothnagel		Hungary Katalin Gyulai Henirette Huber Rita Kőbán Erika Mészáros		Soviet Union Aleksandra Apanovich Nadezhda Kovalevich Irina Salomykova Galina Savenko

Medals table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Soviet Union (URS)	8	3	5	16
2	East Germany (GDR)	7	3	1	11
3	Hungary (HUN)	3	6	2	11
4	Denmark (DEN)	2	0	0	2
5	Czechoslovakia (TCH)	1	0	1	2
6	Australia (AUS)	1	0	0	1
7	Poland (POL)	0	4	2	6
8	France (FRA)	0	2	2	4
9	West Germany (FRG)	0	1	2	3
10	Great Britain (GBR)	0	1	1	2
11	Canada (CAN)	0	1	0	1
	Romania (ROU)	0	1	0	1
13	Bulgaria (BUL)	0	0	3	3
14	Portugal (POR)	0	0	1	1
	Sweden (SWE)	0	0	1	1
	United States (USA)	0	0	1	1
Totals (16 entries)		22	22	22	66