Rio 2016 Canoe Sprint Spectator Guide
While it may lack the wild waters of Canoe Slalom, Canoe Sprint is still a nail-biting race full of excitement. Whether you’re completely new to the sport, or you just want to refresh your knowledge, here’s a short guide to the sport itself, and everything you need to know about Canoe Sprint’s role in Rio 2016, to make sure that you can keep up with even the experts!
What is Canoe Sprint?
Canoe sprint seems simple enough – it’s all about getting maximum acceleration in a short distance. Unlike slalom, there’s no fancy maneuvering here, the goal is simply to gain the most speed in the shortest amount of time. The waters are much calmer and flatter, too. To make sure nobody gets a sneaky head start, there’s a mechanical system in place with small buckets to keep all competitors where they’re supposed to be.
There are two types of boat - Canoe and Kayak. With Canoe, athletes are in a striding position with a single-blade paddle. Kayak, however, means a sitting position with a double-bladed paddle.
There are a lot of different ways to categorize a race. Usually races are categorized based on the type of boat, number of people in the boat, the gender of the competitors, and the distance of the race. So for example, if a race is a C2M 500m, then that means it’s a Canoe race with 2 people in the boat who are Men, and the race distance is 500m.
Historically, Hungary has dominated the Canoe Sprint, with 77 Olympic medals, the most since the sport’s Olympic debut in Berlin in 1936. They also have the most world titles – 194, almost double what second-place Germany has (109)! However, a huge surprise happened last year when Belarus became the first country this century other than Hungary or Germany to finish with the most gold medals from a single world championship. Almost nobody expected that, so who knows what could happen in 2016?
All About Rio 2016
This year, the Rio 2016 Canoe Sprint events will be held in Lagoa Stadium, on Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas. The lagoon hosts both canoe sprint and rowing events, and has had a new finish tower installed. Canoe Sprint events will take place between August 15th and 20th.
3 Things to Know if You’re Going to Rio
- As with most of the stadiums, you can only use public transport to access the lagoon – there is no parking available
- Don’t forget to get your RioCard before you arrive, since that’s your key to having a smooth journey to all the exciting events.
- Opening time is 90 minutes before the start time written on the ticket. Don’t be late!
In total, there will be 12 events with medals – 8 for men, and 4 for women. Prepare for the long lists ahead! For men, there will be the C1M 200m and 1000m, the C2M 1000m, the K1M 200m and 1,00m, the K2M 200m and 1000m, and the K4M 1000m races. For women, there are only kayak races – K1W 200m and 500m, K2W 500m, and K4W 500m.
Fun fact!
For the first time, athletes will be allowed to compete with a weed deflector on their boats. This is a small blade in front of the rudder that cuts through any weed that may get stuck to the rudder (steering device at the back of the boat).
Canoe Sprint Lingo
As usual, it’s important to know all the words and abbreviations about the sport in order to really show that you know all there is to know about it! So here are a few definitions to help you out.
- Gunwale: the upper edge of the side of a canoe (not pronounced like “gunwhale”, more like “gunnel”)
- Wash: the broken water left in the wake of a moving boat
- Beam: the widest part of a canoe
