Zuzana Paňková

Zuzana Paňková (born 25 November 2004) is a Slovak slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2019.

She represented Slovakia at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Career Paňková won two medals at the 2026 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in Oklahoma City with a gold in C1 team and a bronze in K1 team.

She also won four medals (2 golds, 1 silver and 1 bronze) at the European Championships. She won the first of those medals at the age of 16. She won her first world cup medal in 2022 in Pau at the age of 17. She won the only individual medal for Slovakia at the 2024 European Canoe Slalom Championships in Tacen, Slovenia by finishing second in K1.

Paňková qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics in C1 after reaching the final round at 2023 World Cup race in Vaires-sur-Marne.

She made her Olympic debut at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, finishing 4th in the C1 event and 35th in kayak cross.

Paňková finished 15th in the overall standings of the C1 event in the 2022 Canoe Slalom World Cup, 5th in 2023 and 2nd 2025.

Paňková has won medals across all three disciplines (canoe, kayak and kayak cross) at the junior and under 23 level. She contributed to 4 out of 5 medals won by Slovakia at the 2023 European Junior and U23 Canoe Slalom Championships in Bratislava, winning silver medals in C1, C1 team, K1 team and Kayak cross.

Her first kayak was originally owned by the Olympic gold medalist Elena Kaliská.

Career statistics

Major championships results timeline

World Cup individual podiums

SeasonDateVenuePositionEvent 2022 28 August 2022 Pau 2nd C1 2025 28 June 2025 Prague 1st C1 2026 5 June 2026 Prague 3rd K1