The first canoes and kayaks were made thousands of years ago by native Americans and Polynesian islanders. They were originally used for hunting, fishing and transport on water.

Racing began in the 19th century, after British travel writer John MacGregor copied the design of the ancient boats, and founded the Royal Canoe Club of England in 1866.

Today, races are held on both flat water and white water courses at sites across the world.

In the Slalom discipline, competitors travel down a 300m-long course on turbulent, ‘white-water’ rapids.

They must pass through a twisting sequence of 25 ‘gates’, avoiding penalty points for touching the poles.

Green and white gates must be taken in a ‘downstream’ direction; red and white ‘upstream’ gates require competitors to paddle against the current. A touch is penalised by two seconds added to the competitor’s time; missing a gate costs 50 seconds - a ‘wipeout’ in serious competition.

Each competitor takes two runs, and the times are added together. Events are held for single kayakers (C1, K1, men and women), single canoeists (C1, men only) and pairs of canoeists (C2, men only).

List of events

• men

  1. CANOE

  2. KAYAK

  3. KAYAK SINGLE

  4. CANOE SINGLE

  5. CANOE DOUBLE

• women

  1. KAYAK

  2. KAYAK SINGLE

  3. CANOE SINGLE

  4. CANOE

(It was called Canoe/Kayak Flatwater before January 2009. The name is changed at ICF Ordinary Congress after the 2008 Olympic Games.)

Canoe/Kayak Sprint originally from the Eskimos on the North American Greenland who used the craft as a mode of transport, fishing and battle. They were propelled through the water by single bladed paddles usually made from wood wrapped by animal skin. The aim of canoeing competition is for people to race each other in kayaks and canoes over a clearly defined unobstructed course in the fastest time possible.

Canoeing has been part of the Olympic Games since 1936 (Berlin) for men, and since 1948 (London) for women. Canoe/Kayak became the official competition sport on the 11th 1990 Asian Games in Beijing.

The course for Canoe/Kayak Sprint is on the same channel as the one for rowing, but the course is different. According to the ICF course standard, the course must be at least 1400 long, 120m wide, and more than 2m deep, with 9 lanes of 9m width; there shall be at least one side with a straight strand which is 50m from the nearest buoy lane.

List of events

• men

  1. KAYAK SINGLE 200M

  2. KAYAK DOUBLE 200M

  3. CANOE SINGLE 200M

  4. 200M

  5. 1000M K-1

  6. 1000M K-2

  7. 500M K-4

  8. 1000M C-1

  9. 1000M C-2

  10. KAYAK FOUR 500M

  11. CANOE DOUBLE 200M

  12. KAYAK SINGLE 1000M

  13. KAYAK DOUBLE 500M

  14. KAYAK DOUBLE 1000M

  15. KAYAK FOUR 1000M

  16. KAYAK SINGLE 500M

  17. CANOE SINGLE 500M

  18. CANOE SINGLE 1000M

  19. CANOE DOUBLE 500M

  20. CANOE DOUBLE 1000M

• women

  1. KAYAK SINGLE 500M

  2. KAYAK DOUBLE 500M

  3. KAYAK FOUR 500M

  4. KAYAK SINGLE 200M

  5. CANOE SINGLE 200M

  6. CANOE DOUBLE 500M

  7. 200M

  8. 500M K-1

  9. 500M K-2

  10. 500M K-4

  11. 200M C-1

  12. 500M C-2

List of events

• men

  1. TBR 200M

  2. TBR 500M

  3. TBR 1000M

• women

  1. TBR 200M

  2. TBR 500M