Sprint

Sprint

Little in sport matches Canoe Sprint for its sheer lung-bursting, muscle-burning effort. With a flat stretch of water in front of you, and no turns or obstacles to distract, the race to the finishing line remains one of sport’s fastest, most exciting and most demanding challenges.

Three distances: Canoe Sprint is held on calm water over three distances: 200m, 500m and 1000m. The winning boat is the first to cross the finish line.

Different boat types: There are two boat types, Kayaks (K) and Canoes (C). In a Kayak, the paddler is seated and uses a two-blade paddle. In a Canoe, the paddler is kneeling on one knee, and uses a single-blade paddle.

Different disciplines: The boat categories are indicated by the type of boat and number of paddlers in the boat. There are Kayak events in single (K1), double (K2) and quadruple (K4) and Canoe events in single (C1), double (C2) and quadruple (C4).

For men and women: Traditionally Canoe has been exclusively for Men but there is a growing Women’s contingent particularly in Women’s C1 and C2.

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The programme for Tokyo 2020 will consist of 12 events, six for men and six for women. The events will be Men's K1 200m, K4 500m, K1 1000m, K2 1000m, C1 1000m, C2 1000m and Women's K1 200m, K1 500m, K2 500m, K4 500m, C1 200m, C2 500m.