The 1979 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships were held in Duisburg, West Germany.
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 fifteenth championships in canoe sprint. It was where an incident later referred to as The ÃÂesiunas Affair took place when Soviet-born Lithuanian canoer Vladas ÃÂesià «nas appeared at the event as a spectator only to vanish. The West German government claimed ÃÂesiunas had defected, but the former canoer had returned to the Soviet Union voluntarily several weeks later. During ÃÂesiunas' disappearance, he would speak in favor of the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott, more than two months before the SovietâÂÂAfghan War, but later returned to the Soviet Embassy in Bonn. The Soviets toned down their rhetoric about ÃÂesiunas' "disappearance" in the West and changed his mind all the while West Germany continued to maintain that he had been kidnapped.