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Thomas Konietzko, former member of the ECA Board of Directors, who lead the ICF since 2021 stood unopposed at the elections and he secured a second term at the helm, running to 2028. Two out of three vice-presidents come from Europe. Spain’s Lluis Rabaneda i Caselles, Argentina’s Cecilia Farias and Italy’s Luciano Buonfiglio remained as Vice Presidents. Rabaneda and Farias were both re-elected while Buonfiglio, who had been Acting Vice President alongside his duties as ICF treasurer, will now take on the role full-time following his election in Antalya.

 

“I see myself as a team player here, and I am very proud and happy that you have placed your trust in me and my team. My newly elected team and I can now devote our full attention to shaping the next four years. While we have had our sights set on our structure and finances for the past three years, the next four years will be important for discussing our future strategy. They will be dedicated to a thorough review of our organisational structure and procedures, and we want to discuss everything to make our Federation, including its rules and processes, fit for the future,” said Konietzko in his re-election speech after receiving 87 of the 88 votes.

 

The new treasurer is China’s Li Xin, who overcame Hungary’s Peter Karai, member of the ECA Board of Directors, after three rounds of voting, winning by 47 votes to 34, while Turkey’s Alper Cavit Kabakci was out of the running after the first round.

 

The new chairs of the ICF committees are: ECA board members Manuela Gawehn (wildwater canoeing) and Ruud Heijselaar (canoe marathon), ECA’s technical delegates Noemi Horvath (Stand Up Paddling) and Jane Gibson (Medial and Anti-Doping), Belgium’s Marian Sarbu (canoe ocean racing), Great Britain’s Greg Smale (canoe polo) abd Terry Best (canoe freestyle), Australia’s Richard Fox (canoe slalom), Japan’s Toshi Furuya (canoe sprint) and Canada’s John Edwards (paracanoe).

 

Many European canoeing officials found their places within the ICF committees, full list can be found here: https://www.canoeicf.com/icf-structure

 

There are four representatives of the ECA also included in the ICF Board of Directors, they are President of the ECA Jean Zoungrana, Secretary General Branko Lovirć, Andrej Jelenc and Jovana Stanojević.

 

The ICF also announced that that it will establish its headquarters in Budapest, Hungary.