Olympic gold and silver medalists Nevin Harrison and Adam Varga will head an exciting list of world-class canoe sprint paddlers competing at the ICF Canoe Sprint Super Cup in Oklahoma City, USA, on Saturday August 21.
19-year-old Harrison made canoe sprint history when she won the first ever Olympic gold medal on offer in women’s canoeing in Tokyo earlier this month. She also became the first ever American woman to win an Olympic canoe sprint gold medal.
21-year-old Varga underlined why many consider him the most exciting young paddler on the planet today, with a hard-fought second behind fellow Hungarian Balint Kopasz in the men’s K1 1000 in Tokyo.
It was Varga’s first major international 1000 metre race, and he left in his wake two former world champions and a string of other top-class paddlers.
The women’s C1 in Oklahoma will feature the three C1 200 Olympic medalists from Tokyo, with Canadian silver medalist Laurence Vincent-Lapointe and Ukraine’s bronze medalist Liudmyla Luzan also confirmed starters.
The third ICF Super Cup will once again showcase some of the world’s best canoe sprint paddlers in a modified format that provides a showdown between the fastest and the strongest.
The August 21 invitational Super Cup, which had been scheduled for 2020 but had to be postponed due to Covid-19, will feature both canoe and kayak races over 350 metres for men and women, as well as a mixed race, and will be televised live on networks around the globe.
There will also be a one-kilometre race which will feature a portage.
The excellent lighting at the course will give athletes a rare opportunity to race at night. It will also enable athletes to maintain race fitness between the Tokyo Olympics and this year’s ICF canoe sprint world championships in Copenhagen in September.
The boathouse district of Oklahoma City features a world-class 4000 metre race and training course and a $45m whitewater rafting and kayaking centre.
The inaugural ICF Super Cups were held in Barnaul, Russia, and Linyi, China, in 2019, and attracted Olympians and world champions from all corners of the globe.
