Headlining the event are South Africa's Hank McGregor and Hungary's Renata Csay, who each boast an impressive number of World Championship golds.

McGregor has ten World Championship gold medals in the K1 and K2 events.

Csay has dominated the women's K1 and K2 marathon events as she has 29 World Championship medals, 18 of which are gold.

However, both McGregor and Csay will only compete in the K2 events at these Championships.

With McGregor out of the K1 event, the host nation will get behind Jose Ramalho, who won silver at the 2012 World Championships.

Ramalho has also won three World Championship bronzes, in 2009, 2014 and most recently in 2016.

In the C1 event, Portugal’s Nuno Barros will hope to emulate his gold medal in 2010 and upgrade his three bronze medals from the World Championships in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

The Championships will feature kayak, canoe, double canoe and double kayak events with distances up to 29.8 kilometres for the men’s K1 and K2 events.

The Cavado river in Prado previously staged the 2013 European Championships as well as a World Cup in 2016.

Racing is already underway in the under-23 and junior events.