Whitewater Slalom Racing is a competitive sport where the
aim is to navigate a kayak (K1), one-person decked canoe
(C1), or two-person decked canoe (C2) through a course of
gates on river rapids in the fastest time possible. It is
one of the two canoeing disciplines at the Summer Olympics,
and is referred to by the International Olympic Committee
as "canoe/kayak slalom". The other Olympic canoeing
discipline is "canoe/kayak flatwater". In addition,
since 2002, Whitewater Slalom World Championships have been
held every non-Olympic year (formerly held every two years).
The object of the competitor is to navigate through the
course through each hanging "gate" in order through
whitewater. Each 'gate' consists of two poles hanging from
a wire strung across the river. There are usually 20 to
25 numbered gates in a course and they are colored as either
downstream (green) or upstream (red) indicating the direction
they must be crossed. Courses are run on flatwater, Class
V whitewater, and every class in between.
Whitewater Slalom courses usually take 80 to 200 seconds
to navigate and each competitor has two runs. The sum of
the two runs is taken for the final result. In international
competition, current rules require a qualification race
of this format, with a one run semi-final added to a final
run by the top ten semi-finalists. Many local and state
championship races determine the winner by the best of two
runs.
Typically, slalom racers are not permitted to practice
on the race course. The first time they face the conditions
and layout of the gates is during competition. Another way
of putting this is that the competitors are allowed to paddle
on the river as many times as they want in the days leading
to the race, using training gates placed in any positions
they desire on the river. But the day before the race, the
river is closed and all training gates taken away.
If the competitor hits either pole of the gate a time penalty
is awarded, with 2 seconds added to the competitors' time
for each gate hit. If the competitor misses a gate completely,
displaces it by more than 45 degrees, goes through the gate
upside-down or goes through gates in the wrong order, a
50 second penalty is given.
Slalom boats are low volume and have a thin profile to
enable them to get underneath the gate poles. Their low
volume sterns allow the boat to slice through the water
via what is called a pirouette. Typically, new racing boats
cost between $1,200 and $2,500.
Whitewater Slalom made its Olympic debut in 1972 in Augsburg,
West Germany. It was not seen again until 1992 in La Seu
d'Urgell as part of the Barcelona games. Since then, slalom
paddling has been a regular at the Olympics. The Olympic
locations have been as follows:
