Benjamin Savšek

Benjamin Savšek (born 24 March 1987) 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 three Olympic Games. His first appearance was at the 2012 Summer Olympics where he finished in 8th place in the C1 event. 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.

Savšek won nine 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 four medals came from the C1 team events as part of the Slovenian team. These include a gold in 2022, a silver in 2018 and two bronzes in 2014 and 2015.

Savšek also won 13 medals at the European Canoe Slalom Championships (8 golds, 1 silver and 4 bronzes). Six of these medals are individual (4 golds and 2 bronzes).

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).

Savšek was the year-end World No. 1 in C1 event in 2015 and 2022.

World Cup individual podiums

 * 1 Pan American Championship counting for World Cup points