Benjamin Savšek
Slovenian canoeist (born 1987)
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Benjamin Savšek (born 24 March 1987)[1] is a Slovenian slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2002, specializing in the C1 discipline. With an Olympic gold, 2 individual world titles and 4 individual European titles, he is one of the most successful C1 paddlers of his generation.
Savšek competed at four Olympic Games. His first appearance was at the 2012 Summer Olympics where he finished in 8th place in the C1 event.[2] He finished in 6th place in the same event four years later at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo he won gold in the C1 event after completing a clean run in the final.[3] He also competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, finishing 11th in the C1 event and 12th in kayak cross.
Savšek won ten medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships including 5 individual medals. He won gold in the C1 event in 2017 in Pau and then again in 2023 in London. He also has two silvers (2014 and 2015) and a bronze (2013). The other five medals came from the C1 team events as part of the Slovenian team. These include a gold in 2022, a silver in 2018 and three bronzes in 2014, 2015 and 2025.[4]
Savšek also won 14 medals at the European Canoe Slalom Championships (8 golds, 2 silver and 4 bronzes). Six of these medals are individual (4 golds and 2 bronzes).[4]
Savšek has also had success in the World Cup where he has collected 5 victories and 19 podiums as of 2023. He is yet to win the overall title, however, finishing in the runner-up position of 4 occasions (2009, 2015, 2017 and 2021). He finished in the top ten of the overall standings every year from 2009 to 2023 (with the exception of the 2020 season when there were no World Cup final rankings due to the COVID-19 pandemic).[4]
Savšek was the year-end World No. 1 in C1 event in 2015 and 2022.[5]
Career statistics
Major championships results timeline
| Event | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olympic Games | C1 | — | Not held | 8 | Not held | 6 | Not held | 1 | Not held | 11 | Not held | ||||||||
| Kayak cross | Not held | 12 | Not held | ||||||||||||||||
| World Championships | C1 | Not held | 19 | 7 | 17 | Not held | 3 | 2 | 2 | Not held | 1 | 7 | 18 | Not held | 9 | 4 | 1 | Not held | 9 |
| C1 team | Not held | 4 | 5 | 12 | Not held | 4 | 3 | 3 | Not held | 5 | 2 | 6 | Not held | 5 | 1 | 4 | Not held | 3 | |
| European Championships | C1 | 18 | 10 | 6 | 13 | 3 | 27 | 6 | 1 | 12 | 4 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 6[a] | 3 | 11 |
| C1 team | 6 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 8[a] | 1 | 2 | |
- 2023 European Games
World Cup individual podiums
 |
 |
 |
Total | |
| C1 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 21 |
| Season | Date | Venue | Position | Event |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 3 August 2009 | Kananaskis | 2nd | C11 |
| 2010 | 19 June 2010 | Prague | 2nd | C1 |
| 2012 | 25 August 2012 | Prague | 1st | C1 |
| 2014 | 14 June 2014 | Tacen | 1st | C1 |
| 21 June 2014 | Prague | 3rd | C1 | |
| 2015 | 20 June 2015 | Prague | 2nd | C1 |
| 27 June 2015 | Kraków | 3rd | C1 | |
| 8 August 2015 | La Seu d'Urgell | 3rd | C1 | |
| 2016 | 3 September 2016 | Prague | 3rd | C1 |
| 10 September 2016 | Tacen | 1st | C1 | |
| 2017 | 10 September 2017 | La Seu d'Urgell | 1st | C1 |
| 2021 | 13 June 2021 | Prague | 3rd | C1 |
| 20 June 2021 | Markkleeberg | 3rd | C1 | |
| 12 September 2021 | Pau | 2nd | C1 | |
| 2022 | 19 June 2022 | Kraków | 2nd | C1 |
| 26 June 2022 | Tacen | 3rd | C1 | |
| 28 August 2022 | Pau | 3rd | C1 | |
| 2023 | 10 June 2023 | Prague | 1st | C1 |
| 16 June 2023 | Tacen | 3rd | C1 | |
| 2024 | 8 June 2024 | Prague | 2nd | C1 |
| 14 September 2024 | Ivrea | 1st | C1 |
- 1 Pan American Championship counting for World Cup points
