Canoe sprint

This article is about the overarching sport canoe sprint, which is practiced both in kayaks and canoes. For the sport exclusively practiced in canoes, see Sprint canoe.

Heat 3 of the Men's K-1 200m at the 2016 Olympic Games
Highest governing body	International Canoe Federation
First modern-day competition	1869
Characteristics
Contact	No
Team members	1, 2 or 4 (depending on boat class)
Mixed-sex	Separate competitions
Type	Water sport, outdoor
Equipment	Kayak or Canoe, paddle (single or double bladed)
Venue	River, artificial lake, canal
Glossary	Glossary of canoeing terms
Presence
Olympic	since 1936 (men only); since 1948 (both men and women)
Paralympic	since 2016

Canoe sprint is a water sport in which athletes race in specially designed canoes or kayaks on calm water over a short distance. Prior to November 2008, canoe sprint was known as flatwater racing. Traditionally the term canoeing is used as a hypernym for both kayaking and canoeing.

Most elite and championship level racing is conducted over distances of 200, 500, 1000 and 5000 meters in several lanes marked by buoys. The boat classes that compete over these distances almost exclusively consist of one, two or four athletes.

Modern canoeing as a competitive sport can be traced to the mid-19th century, when travellers popularised competitive canoeing in central Europe and North America. Around 1900 the first national and international canoeing federations were formed, leading to international competitions in the first quarter of the 20th century. Male canoeists have competed at the Summer Olympic Games since 1936. Women's canoeing was added to the Olympic programme in 1948. Today, there are eleven boat classes which race at the Olympics. In addition, the sport's governing body, the International Canoe Federation (ICF), holds an annual World Championship with many more boat classes. Canoe sprint is one of the two Olympic canoeing disciplines, the other is canoe slalom. On the whole, Europe has dominated the sport, winning over 90% of all available medals. ^[1]

History

The Scottish traveller, John "Rob Roy" MacGregor, is widely recognised for popularising competitive canoeing during the late 19th century. Against the backdrop of Victorian society's growing interest in outdoors activities such as camping and pleasure boating, ^[2] MacGregor's weekly accounts of his journey through the waterways of Europe became immensely popular. ^[3]

John MacGregor paddles through the small German town of Tuttlingen

Upon his return to England he authored A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe, which would become popular and inspire others to try the sport. In 1866 he founded The Canoe Club, the world's first canoe club. It was not long before other clubs started emerging on both sides of the Atlantic. The new clubs promoted the organisation of regattas and contributed to the establishment of formal notional bodies to define the rules of the sport. ^[4] MacGregor, for example, would go on to found the American Canoe Association in 1880.

The sport's growing popularity in the early 1900s prompted the need for international structure. In 1924, the predecessor of the International Canoe Federation, the Internationale Repräsentantenschaft Kanusport (IRK), was formed by German, Austrian and Swedish delegates at a meeting hosted by the Danish Canoe Federation  [ dk ]. ^[5] This laid the foundation for the first international competitions, including a demonstration at the 1924 Olympic games. Despite this the sport would not be a part of the next two summer olympics. The International Olympic Committee had rejected applications for the inclusion of canoeing in the 1928 and 1932 Olympic Games due to the limited number of proposed participating nations. The application to the 1936 Olympic games faced a different challenge. The application was initially rejected in 1933, the same year as the inaugural European championships were held in Prague. Spearheading this decision was the president of the International Federation for Rowing Societies (FISA), who expressed concern that an influx of small crafts would compromise the freedom of rowers on lakes and waterways. ^[6] The IRK, however, successfully appealed this decision in 1934, leadning to the inclusion of canoeing at the Olympic starting from the 1936 Olympic Games. The first world championships took place in 1938 in Vaxholm. Notably, the 1948 Olympic Games were the first instance where women were allowed to compete in canoeing at an Olympic level, albeit only in one discipline, as opposed to the eight available to men. Since the first international competitions, there has been a noticeable trend of reducing the race distances. As 10km was removed, 500m and 200m were introduced.

Race categories

Race categories vary by the number of athletes in the boat, the length of the course, and whether the boat is a canoe or kayak. The distances recognised by the ICF for international canoe sprint races are 200m, 500m, 1000m and 5000m. The first three take place on straight regatta courses with each boat paddling in its own designated lane. They are also the only distances to have featured at the Olympic games since 1960. The 5000m, diverges from traditional lane-based racing. Instead, athletes tend to start in a large pack, navigating a set course with several turning points. For each race a number of heats, semi-finals and finals may be necessary, depending on the number of competitors.

The official boats recognised by the ICF as 'International Boats' are: K1, K2, K4, C1, C2 and C4, where the number indicates the size of the crew and “K” stands for kayak and “C” for canoe. ^[7] The ICF rules for these boats define, among other things, the maximum length, the minimum weight and the shape of the boats. A K1, for instance, must be 520 cm long and weigh at least 12 kg. Originally, width (beam) restrictions were also enforced; these were revoked in 2000, spurring a flurry of innovations in boat designs. Modern boats are usually made of carbon fiber, aramid fiber (e.g., Kevlar) with epoxy resin, or variants of high-performance fiber-glass.

Venues

Canoe sprint races take place on flatwater courses, including lakes, calm rivers, or artificial waterways. Regattas at a national and international level take place on regatta courses, which are typically 2km long and consist of different lanes demarcated by buoys. The colour and placement of the buoys follows the Albano-system. The ICF further requires that there is a homologated start system at the 200m, 500m and 1000m marks. For long distance races, so the 5000m, the ICF requires either a long distance start system or a long pontoon.

Kayak

Main article: Sprint kayak

In a kayak, the paddler is seated in the direction of travel, and uses a double-bladed paddle. Kayaks have a rudder for steering and course adjustment, which is operated by the feet of the paddler in the front. The paddle used is usually a 'wing paddle' (although standard asymmetrical paddles can also be used) – wing paddles have blades which are shaped to resemble a wing or spoon, creating lift and increasing the power and stability of the stroke. There are many variations of wing paddles, ranging from longer and narrower options for more stability throughout the entire stroke to more extreme 'teardrop' shaped paddles for a firmer application of power at the start of the stroke.

Canoe

Main article: Sprint canoe

In a canoe the paddler kneels on one knee with the other leg forward and foot flat on the floor of the boat, and paddles a single-bladed paddle on one side only with what is known as a 'J-stroke' to control the boat's direction. ^[8] In Canada, a racing class exists for the C-15 or WC or "War Canoe", as well as a similarly designed C-4 (which is much shorter and more squat than an 'International' C-4). An antiquated boat class is the C-7, resembling a large C4 which was debuted by the ICF with little success. For racing canoes, the blade is typically short and broad, with a 'power face' on one side that is either flat or scalloped out. The shaft will typically be longer than a tripping canoe paddle, because the kneeling position puts the paddler higher above the surface of the water. More recent designs of canoe racing paddles often have a slight bent shaft, commonly 12–14 degrees. (a concept of canoe designer Eugene Jensen in the 1960s). Many high-performance canoe paddlers prefer the feel of a wooden handle with a carbon fiber shaft and blade, while nearly all high-performance kayak paddlers use paddles made completely of carbon fiber.^{[ citation needed ]}

Gallery

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See also

• Canoe marathon
• Canoeing at the Summer Olympics
• International Canoe Federation
• ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships

References

1. "What is sprint?". Archived from the original on 22 June 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
2. Gartner, Emily (23 May 2019). "Camping in Victorian times". friendsofdalnavert.ca. Dalnavert Museum. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
3. Wenham, Simon (12 May 2020). "John 'Rob Roy' MacGregor (1825-1892): Explorer, Evangelist and Philanthropist". victorianweb.org. The Victorian Web. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
4. McKenzie, Don; Mortimer, Ian (2019). Handbook of Sports Medicine and Science: Canoeing (PDF). John Wiley & Sons. p. 3. ISBN   9781119097228.
5. Berkeley, Jeff (19 January 2024). "How Denmark set stage for formation of ICF". canoeicf.com. The International Canoe Federation. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
6. McKenzie, Don; Mortimer, Ian (2019). Handbook of Sports Medicine and Science: Canoeing (PDF). John Wiley & Sons. p. 7. ISBN   9781119097228.
7. "Canoe Sprint". International Canoe Federation . Retrieved 3 October 2018.
8. "Canoe sprint". ICF. Archived from the original on 27 April 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2014.