Para athletes were invited to the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships for the first time to compete over the long distance.

A total of 14 Paracanoe marathon categories were added to the programme, with races held on Wednesday (August 30) and yesterday.

Ruud Heijselaar, chair of the ICF Canoe Marathon Committee, said the inclusion of the discipline was a success and expressed his desire to make it a permanent fixture as part of the annual ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships from 2025.

"We are working together with the Paracanoe Committee to have it here in the near future," Heijselaar told insidethegames.

"It depends on the Congress next year.

"We want to have a Paracanoe Marathon World Championships.

"The Paracanoe Committee and the Para athletes like it.

"They think it is really nice because normally they only have 200 metres races.

"We also have an open race where everyone can participate.

"We organise this but the Paracanoe Committee do the classification.

"They do amazing work and we appreciate what they are doing.

"It’s a completely different world for us so it’s nice to have them here."

More than 20 athletes from five nations compete in Paracanoe marathon races with the Brazilian team enjoying much of the success.

"There are not too many Para athletes here but that’s because we have the test event for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris," said Heijselaar.

"That’s the reason why they are staying here but otherwise there is more.

"I talk to a lot of people and they want to come here but they said they wanted to go to the test event and I can understand.

"I hope that there will be more next year and then in 2025 there will be a World Championships.

"We need to have all the groups involved in marathon because we have junior, under-23, seniors and masters and Paracanoe is part of that group."