Péter Pál Kiss
Hungarian Para canoeist (born 2003)
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Péter Pál Kiss (born 6 May 2003) is a Hungarian Para canoeist. He represented Hungary at the 2020 and 2024 Summer Paralympics.[1][2] At 18 years old he was youngest-ever paracanoe Paralympic champion.[3]
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Péter Pál Kiss | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Hungarian | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 6 May 2003 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | Hungary | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Para canoe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disability | Guillain–Barré syndrome | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| KL1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Budapesti Honvéd Sportegyesület | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coached by | István Pruzsina | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Early life
Kiss originally lived in a shanty town in Baranya County.[4] In 2011, Kiss was paralyzed after being diagnosed with Guillain–Barré syndrome.[5][6] When Kiss was eight, he thought it was a fever that was originally thought as just being the flu but as a result he lost feeling in his legs.[7] In order to get treatment, he moved to a school in Budapest.[4] As part of his rehabilitation, he started swimming despite a fear of water after a near drowning experience when he was younger and overcame that fear.[7]
Whilst undergoing rehabilitation after losing the use of his legs, his swimming coach noticed Kiss demonstrating talent in a canoe and suggested he take it up.[7] He started training on the River Danube and won gold and bronze medals at Hungary's national paracanoe championships.[8] When he was 16, he won gold at the 2019 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships.[9][10]
Career
At the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan, Kiss won gold in the 200 metre KL1 sprint.[11] This made him the first teenager to win gold in the KL1 class.[12] Prior to the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris, France, Kiss suffered a pectoral muscle injury in training that kept him out of the 2024 European and World Championships and only qualified for the Paralympics after winning a domestic head to head competition.[13] Following a repeat gold medal win at the Paralympics, Kiss was selected as Hungary's co-flagbearer for the closing ceremony.[14] Later in the year, Kiss announced that he was looking to enter in the VL2 category in addition to KL1.[13] In 2025, he announced that he had a new coach and trained in the bay at Újpest on the Danube as a part of the Budapesti Honvéd SE canoeing team.[15] On 11 January 2024, he was named the Hungarian parasportsman of the year for 2023.[16]
In August 2025, he competed at the 2025 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships and won a gold medal in the KL1 event. The next month he competed at the 2025 ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships and won a silver medal in the KL1 event with a time of 32:37.15. This marked the first time paracanoe was competed in marathon distances at the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships.[17]
