A record number of countries will be contesting the Tokyo Olympic Games in Canoe Slalom with 35 countries vying for medals in four events at Kasai Canoe Slalom Centre from 25 – 30 July 2021. For the first time, there will be equal numbers of male and female athlete quotas with medals up for grabs in both the Women’s and Men’s Kayak Single (K1) and Canoe Single (C1) events.
Overview
History is guaranteed to be made in Tokyo, with women’s canoe to make its first appearance, following the addition of the women’s C1 to the Olympic program. Several women are set to compete in both the K1 and C1 events, including the world’s most successful canoe slalom paddler of all time, Jessica Fox.
Fox will be representing Australia at her third Olympic Games and after winning kayak silver in London 2012 and kayak bronze at Rio 2016, the 27-year-old world number one in both the K1 and C1 will have the chance to go for two medals in Tokyo following the addition of the C1.
The dual Olympic medallist and four-time world champion in the C1 and three-time world champion in the K1 is spearheading an Australian canoe slalom team of three with Rio Olympian Lucien Delfour returning to the team in the men’s kayak, while Tasmanian Daniel Watkins will contest his first Olympic Games in the men’s C1.
Canoe Slalom Team
Ones To Watch
Jessica Fox will be one of Australia’s hottest medal contenders in Tokyo and heads into the Games as one of the favourites in both the women’s K1 and C1. Over the past 10 years, Fox has claimed 30 individual world cup wins, seven individual and three team World Championships, and two medals at the Olympics, making her the greatest canoe slalom athlete of all time.
She comes into Tokyo in great form after recently winning the K1 at the 2021 ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup #2 and the C1 at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup #1 in June. In the C1, Fox will be up against a strong international line-up, including the current World Champion Andrea Herzog from Germany and world number two Mallory Franklin from Great Britain. In the K1, current World Champion Eva Terčelj from Slovenia and world number three Ricarda Funk (GER) are also a force to be reckoned with.
Lucien Delfour is out for Olympic redemption, after finishing 17th at the Rio 2016 Games, while Daniel Watkins is ready to impress at his first Olympic Games. Both have demonstrated some impressive speed at the recent world cups and anything is possible for these two Aussies – if they can keep their runs clean.
The Format
In canoe slalom, competitors navigate a canoe (single-blade paddle, athlete is kneeling in the boat) or a kayak (double bladed paddle, athlete is sitting in the boat) on a white-water course, passing through a combination of upstream and downstream gates on whitewater rapids in the fastest time possible.
At Tokyo 2020, canoe slalom will be held at the purpose built, brand-new Kasai Canoe Slalom Centre. The course is 200 metres in length and has a height differential of 4.5m from start to finish. For racing, the course will contain a maximum of 25 gates, with six or eight upstream gates.
The men’s and women’s kayak single will each feature 24 competitors and the men’s and women’s canoe single will feature 17 competitors each.
In the Olympic Games, each competitor completes two runs in the qualification round and the faster time of the two runs gives the qualification result. The top 20 competitors in kayak and the top 15 in canoe will advance to the semi-finals where they will do one run. The ten fastest semi-finalists will compete in the final, and the ranking and the medallists will be determined based on the last run alone.
A two second penalty is given to a boat that correctly negotiates a gate but touches one or both poles and a 50 second penalty is given to any boat that:
- Intentionally pushes a gate to allow negotiation
- Negotiates a gate in the wrong direction
- Fails to negotiate a gate
- Negotiates a gate without the head and part of the boat in the gate line simultaneously
Canoe slalom made its Olympic debut as an introduction sport at the Munich 1972 Games, but it was a further 20 years before it returned to the Olympic Games in Barcelona 1992, where it took place on an artificial course. It is now a permanent part of the Olympic programme.
What's The Story?
Jessica Fox will be competing at her third Olympic Games after writing canoe slalom history over the last couple of years as the most successful canoe slalom paddler of all time. With the C1 added to the Olympic program for the first time, she will have the chance to go for two medals.
Lucien Delfour returns to the Olympics for the second time and will be racing down the whitewater rapids in a boat he designed and built himself in collaboration with Australian triple canoe slalom Olympian Warwick Draper.
Daniel Watkins, “Dan the van man” is an Olympic Games debutant who lives in his van for a big part of the year and is as comfortable paddling through wild rivers of his home state Tasmania and around the world as the technical course of elite slalom.
The Facts
- Competition will run from 25 – 30 July 2021
- Competition Location: Kasai Canoe Slalom Centre
- Jessica Fox is the daughter of Olympic canoe slalom paddlers Richard Fox (GB) and Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi (FRA) and is coached by her dual Olympian and Olympic bronze-medallist mother.
- Lucien Delfour was born in French Polynesia and will be competing in a boat he designed and built himself
- Daniel Watkins lives in a van for most of the year and is coached by canoe slalom London Olympian Robin Jeffery.
Canoe Slalom Snapshot
