The 1983 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships were held in Tampere, Finland for the second time. The Finnish city had host the championships previously in 1973.
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 eighteenth championships in canoe sprint.
Medal summary Men's Canoe Event Gold Time Silver Time Bronze TimeC-1 500 m C-1 1000 m C-1 10000 m C-2 500 m Matija LjubekMirko Nišović Ivan KlementievSergey Ossadzhiy Dumitru BețiuFiodor GureiC-2 1000 m Ivan PatzaichinToma Simionov Olaf HeukrodtAlexander Schuck Matija LjubekMirko NišovićC-2 10000 m Tamás BudayLászló Vaskúti Ivan PatzaichinToma Simionov Sergey PetrenkoYuriy Laptikov
Kayak Event Gold Time Silver Time Bronze TimeK-1 500 m K-1 1000 m K-1 10000 m K-2 500 m Frank FischerAndré Wohllebe Vladimir ParfenovichSergey Superata Hugh FisherAlwyn MorrisK-2 1000 m Frank FischerAndré Wohllebe Vladimir ParfenovichSergey Superata Werner BachmeyerWolfgang HartlK-2 10000 m Stephen JacksonAlan Williams István SzabóIstván Tóth Bengt AnderssonKarl-Axel SundqvistK-4 500 m Andreas StählePeter HempelHarald MargRüdiger Helm Sergey KolokolovSergei ChukhrayArtūras VietaAleksandr Vodovatov István ImaiAttila CsászárZoltán LorinczyAndrás RajnaK-4 1000 m Ionel ConstantinNicolae FeodoseiIonel LetcaeAngelin Velea Andreas StählePeter HempelRüdiger HelmHarald Marg Sergey KolokolovSergei ChukhrayArtūras VietaAleksandr VodovatovK-4 10000 m Nikolay AstapkovichAleksandr AvdeyevNikolay BaranovAlexander Yermilov Harald AmudsenGeir KvillumLars Ivar GranArne Sletsjøe Ireneusz CiurzyńskiAndrzej KlimaszewskiRyszard OborskiKrzysztof Szczepański
Women's Kayak Event Gold Time Silver Time Bronze TimeK-1 500 m K-2 500 m Birgit FischerCarsta Kühn Katalin PovázsánErika Géczi Agneta AnderssonSusanne WibergK-4 500 m Birgit FischerCarsta KühnRamona WaltherKathrin Giese Inna ZhipulinaNelli YefremovaNatalya KalasnikovaGalina Alekseyeva Tecia BorzaneaAgafia BurhaevNatasia IonescuMaria Ştefan
Medals table
References ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships - Part 1: flatwater (now sprint): 1936-2007. ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships - Part 2: rest of flatwater (now sprint) and remaining canoeing disciplines: 1936-2007.