Canoeing started at the Olympics in 1936 and includes some kayaking events. In the beginning the only events were sprints (and some 10km “marathon” distances) held on calm water. There are still 12 sprint events held at distances of 200m, 500m, or 1000m. The biggest change over the years was the addition of the slalom events which were held in 1972 and then continuously since 1992. These events involve canoeing down a whitewater section and passing through gates while trying to finish as quickly as possible. The US has been a middle-of-the-pack country in canoeing with 16 medals, good for 12th all-time.
The Team:
This year’s team is made up of seven athletes, five men and two women.
Links are to twitter accounts for the athletes.
USA Canoeing
Men:
Casey Eichfeld* – C-1
Eric Hurd – C-2
Jeff Larimer – C-2
Scott Parsons** – K-1
Tim Hornsby – K-1 200m
Women:
Caroline Queen – K-1
Carrie Johnson** – K-1 500m
* – Was part of the team in Beijing
** – Was part of the team in Beijing and Athens
Schedule:
Understanding the various events is pretty easy. If it’s a C that refers to a canoe. A K refers to a kayak. The number after the letter? That refers to the number of athletes in the boat. Finally if there is a distance at the end that is how long the sprint is. Those without a distance are the downhill slalom events.
In the slalom events there will be two preliminary runs combined to determine who the semifinalists are. After the semifinal run the field will be narrowed to the finalists, and after the final run the semifinal and final runs will be combined to determine the medalists.
In the sprint events the procedures are a bit different as multiple boats will be competing at once. There will be heats to start and if the field is small enough the winners can progress straight to the final. Other boats progress to the semi-finals where they get a 2nd chance to qualify for the final.
All Times ET
Sunday July 29th
8:30 AM – Men’s Canoeing Slalom – C-1 – Heats
9:24 AM – Men’s Canoeing Slalom – K-1 – Heats
Monday July 30th
8:30 AM – Men’s Canoeing Slalom – C-2 – Heats
9:12 AM – Women’s Canoeing Slalom – K-1 – Heats
Tuesday July 31st
8:30 AM – Men’s Canoeing Slalom – C-1 – Semifinal
10:06 AM – Men’s Canoeing Slalom – C-1 – Final
Wednesday August 1st
8:30 AM – Men’s Canoeing Slalom – K-1 – Semifinal
10:15 AM – Men’s Canoeing Slalom – K-1 – Final
Thursday August 2nd
8:30 AM – Men’s Canoeing Slalom – C-2 – Semifinal
9:12 AM – Women’s Canoeing Slalom – K-1 – Semifinal
10:18 AM – Men’s Canoeing Slalom – C-2 – Final
10:57 AM – Women’s Canoeing Slalom – K-1 – Final
Tuesday August 7th
5:07 AM – Women’s Canoeing Sprint – K-1 500m – Heats
6:16 AM – Women’s Canoeing Sprint – K-1 500m – Semifinals
Thursday August 9th
5:08 AM – Women’s Canoeing Sprint – K-1 500m – Final
Friday August 10th
4:30 AM – Men’s Canoeing Sprint – K-1 200m – Heats
6:02 AM – Men’s Canoeing Sprint – K-1 200m – Semifinals
Saturday August 11th
4:30 AM – Men’s Canoeing Sprint – K-1 200m – Final
Past Results:
Casey Eichfeld comes to the Olympics for the 2nd time, but this time in the C-1 instead of the C-2. Last time with Rick Powell he finished 11th in the preliminaries and was eliminated. Their first run was 10th and in qualification position for the semifinals, but a bad 2nd run left them 40 seconds out of 10th. Eichfeld finished 19th at the latest World Championship.
Scott Parsons’ story in the K1 in Beijing was similar. Parsons had a 1st run that placed him 3rd out of 21 competitors, but a disastrous 2nd run that was over 50 seconds slower saw him miss the top 15 by 44 seconds. He’ll be hoping to put two clean runs together this time around to hopefully be in position to challenge for a medal. Things were much better for Parsons in Athens where he improved throughout the competition finishing 14th in the preliminaries but 9th in the semifinals and 6th in the final. Parsons finished 15th in the latest World Championship.
Carrie Johnson competed in the K-1 500m sprint in Beijing and will look to improve upon a decent performance. Her heat went well as she finished 4th and moved on to the semifinals. Needing to finish in the top 3 of the semifinal to move to the final she finished 4th by half a second. Johnson had a similar situation in Athens where she finished 4th in her heat by .28 seconds. Hopefully this time she can get to the final. Johnson finished 2nd in the C Final of the event in the last World Championship.
Caroline Queen did compete in the World Championship as well where she finished 37th in the women’s K-1 competition.
The last American to medal was Rebecca Giddens in the women’s K-1 slalom where she finished 2nd in Athens.
