Welcome to a special Olympic edition of FTW Explains, where we break down the Olympic sports you are curious about, but don’t really understand. We won’t judge. Today we have canoe.
Canoeing, which covers both canoes and kayaks, is nothing like the sport you’ve leisurely done while out camping. It’s a sport that takes balance, huge amounts of upper body strength, and a touch of daredevil.
There are so many events in canoe and kayak because of the variety of boats and race lengths. Are you ready? In slalom, a course with obstacles, there are three men’s events (C-1, C-2, K-1) and one women’s event (K-1.) In sprint, which is a straight-up race, medals are awarded in men’s C-1 at the 200m and 1000m, men’s C-2 in the 1000m, men’s K-1 in the 200 and 1000m, men’s K-2 in the 200m and 1000m, men’s K-4 in the 1000m, and women’s K-1 in the 200 and 500, K-2 in the 500, and K-4 in 500m. Phew.
The breakdown of boats is not as complicated as it seems. C stands for canoe, and the number is the number of racers in each boat. K-2? Kayak with two people in it. C-1? Single canoer.
WHO IS EXPECTED TO DOMINATE?
Hungary and Germany own paddling sports. Hungarian Danuta Kozak is on a hot streak on the way to defending her two sprint golds.
WHO ARE THE NOTABLE AMERICANS?
American men have not medaled in canoe and kayak since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, while the women’s last medal was in 2004. While Casey Eichfeld is the best and most experienced paddler of the group, he’s still not likely to win any medals. He will compete in both the slalom C-1 and C-2 with Devin McEwan, and in sprint C-1 and C-2 with McEwan.
