Manuela Gawehn was yesterday elected as the first woman to lead an ICF Commission, when she was selected for the top position on the Wildwater Canoeing Committee.

Noemie Horvath of Hungary was today voted chair of the Stand Up Paddling Commission, while yesterday Argentinian Cecilia Farias was re-elected as an ICF vice-president.

"We must continue to work hard to increase the voice and the representation of women right across our sport," said Konietzko.

"Make no mistake of the importance of this goal for me and our ICF Board."

Farias added: "We need to celebrate the election of Manuela Gawehn as our first female chair, and also recognise all the excellent women who have put their names forward.

"Not everyone gets elected, but we have more women now in strong positions than ever before."

José Perurena, who was yesterday succeeded as President by Konietzko after 13 years in the post, said the increase of the number of women on the ICF Board and securing gender equality on the Olympic programme were two of the proudest achievements of his tenure.

"When I started in 2008 there were four ladies and 12 men’s medals on offer at the Olympics," Perurena said.

"In Tokyo finally we have eight and eight, the same quota. This was a big success for the ICF, because it is not easy to convince countries to make changes."

The ICF Congress, held in Rome, Italy, yesterday approved Perurena being given the title of Honorary President.

Konietzko yesterday defeated Russian Evgenii Arkhipov by 94 votes to six to be elected as President.