Canoe Slalom qualification for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games started in July 2015 at the Pan American Games in Toronto (CAN) and was followed by the 2015 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in Lee Valley London (GBR).

Quick links and printable PDFs

• Qualification system (ENG) (July 2014)
• Qualification system (FRA) (July 2014)
• Rio 2016 official website

Here we look at the athletes pathways to qualifying over the four Olympic disciplines – Kayak Singles Men and Women (K1M, K1W) and Canoe Men’s Singles and Doubles (C1M,  C2M).

Events

 
Athletes quota

Total quota for canoe slalom:

*Two (2) Tripartite Commission places are available in canoe sport (canoe slalom/canoe sprint), however, the numbers are calculated in the canoe sprint qualification system.

Maximum number of athletes per NOC:

An athlete that qualifies and is selected by their NOC for the Olympic Games can participate in more than one event in canoe slalom at the Olympic Games (including the event that they qualified in) as long as no other athlete/boat from their NOC is competing in that event at the Games.

Type of allocation of quota places:

The athlete quota place is allocated to the NOC.

Athlete eligibility

Only those athletes who have complied with the Olympic Charter may participate in the Olympic Games.

Additional international federation requirements

To be eligible to participate in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, all eligible NOCs must participate in at least one Olympic event at the 2015 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships.

To be eligible for a Tripartite Commission invitation place, an NOC must also be listed on the ICF ranking by 1 June 2016.

A minimum of three NOCs must contest each athlete quota place at the Olympic qualifying events for the event to be valid. If there are less than three NOCs in any Olympic event then the athlete quota place will be returned to the ICF ranking for reallocation as outlined in the Reallocation of Unused Quota Places section.

Qualification pathway

The number of athlete and boat quota places available in the qualification competitions for canoe slalom will be as follows:

The distribution of athlete quota places through the 2015 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships, the continental qualification events and the host country are defined in the table below:

Note: () indicates boat quotas for C2 men.

Qualification places

The qualification events are listed in chronological order of qualification. A maximum of three boats per event per NOC can be entered in any of the canoe slalom Olympic Games qualification events.

Men/Women

 
Host NOC places

Should the host NOC not obtain an athlete quota place in each event at either the 2015 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships or the 2015 Pan American Games, it will be entitled to receive one boat quota place and the respective number of athlete quota places as per the table below.

Tripartite Commission invitation places

Two Tripartite Commission invitation places are available in canoe sport. These places can be attributed to canoe sprint and/or canoe slalom athletes. Please refer to the canoe sprint qualification system for additional information.

To be eligible for a Tripartite Commission invitation place, an NOC must have participated in the 2015 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships and be listed on the ICF ranking by 1 June 2016. The Tripartite Commission invitation places for canoe are only available in single boats.

On 15 October 2015, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will invite all eligible NOCs to submit their requests for Tripartite Commission invitation places. The deadline for NOCs to submit their requests is 15 January 2016. The Tripartite Commission will confirm, in writing, the allocation of invitation places to the relevant NOCs after the end of the qualification period for the concerned sport.

Confirmation process for quota places

Within two weeks following each qualification event, the ICF will publish the results on its website (www.canoeicf.com) and in Paddleaway (the ICF internal newsletter) and inform the respective NOCs/NFs of their allocated quota places. The NOCs will then have 10 working days to confirm if they wish to use these quota places.

Reallocation of unused quota places

1. Should an NOC decline an athlete quota place that has been gained at the 2015 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships then the next best ranked NOC, not yet qualified, in that event will be allocated the athlete quota place. This process will be repeated until all places are allocated.
2. Should an NOC decline an athlete quota place from a continental qualification event the next best ranked NOC not yet qualified in that event at the respective continental qualification event will be allocated the athlete quota place. The process will be repeated until all places are allocated.
3. In the case where there are no more eligible NOCs that can gain an athlete quota place in the continental qualification event, the next best ranked NOC, not yet qualified, from that continent in the specific event at the 2015 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships will be allocated the quota place. In the case that no further NOC from the continent can gain a place from the 2015 world championships the athlete quota place will be given to the next best ranked NOC not yet qualified in that event from the 2015 world championships, regardless of continental representation.

In the event that quota places are not filled from the procedures outlined above, the ICF Executive Committee will allocate the remaining quota to the next best ranked NOC not yet qualified in the sport of canoe at the Olympic Games using the ICF ranking of 1 June 2016.

Reallocation of unused host NOC places

If the host NOC qualifies athlete quota places at the 2015 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships, the unused host NOC places will be reallocated to the next best ranked NOC, not yet qualified, in the same event from the 2015 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships.

If the host NOC qualifies athlete quota places at the 2015 Pan American Games, the unused host NOC places will be reallocated to the next best ranked NOC, not yet qualified, in the same event from the 2015 Pan American Games.

Should the host NOC decline any of the host NOC places they will be reallocated to the next best ranked NOC, not yet qualified, in the same event from the 2015 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships.

Reallocation of unused Tripartite Commission invitation places

If the Tripartite Commission is not able to allocate a Tripartite Commission invitation place, it will be reallocated using the reallocation procedures outlined in canoe sprint.

Qualification timeline

*To be determined.