Canoe Sprint qualification for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games started in August 2015 at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Milan, Italy. Across the 12 classes there are 248 qualified athletes.

Quick Links and Printable PDFs

• Qualification system (ENG) (July 2014)
• Qualification system (FRA) (July 2014)
• Rio 2016 official website
• Qualification quota allocation for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games

Below are the qualfication criteria for Canoe Sprint for the Rio 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

Events

Athletes quota

*Two Tripartite Commission invitation places are available across the two canoe disciplines (canoe slalom and canoe sprint). They can be attributed to either discipline, but the places appear in the canoe sprint qualification system.

Maximum number of athletes per NOC:

 
If an NOC utilises their quota places, then the NOC must participate in the event(s) through which they qualified prior to being selected for additional available events at the Olympic Games.

An athlete that is selected by their NOC for the Olympic Games can participate in other canoe sprint events as long as no other athlete/boat from their NOC is entered in that event.

Note: The quota place is allocated to the NOC.

Athlete eligibility

Only those athletes who have complied with the Olympic Charter may participate in the Olympic Games.

Additional ICF requirements

To be eligible to participate in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, all NOCs must participate in at least one Olympic event at the 2015 International Canoe Federation (ICF) World Championships.

To be eligible for a Tripartite Commission invitation place an athlete must have participated in at least one Olympic qualification event.

Qualification pathway

Qualification places

An athlete can compete in more than one event at an Olympic qualification event (a world championships or continental qualifier for example). However he/she can only acquire one athlete quota place at a competition for its NOC regardless of how many places or boats that athlete tries to qualify.

The athlete quota place(s) will be given to the largest boat class and the remaining athlete quota place is reallocated using the unused athlete quota place process as outlined in the Reallocation of Unused Quota Places section below.

The number of athlete and boat quota places for canoe sprint will be:

Qualification event: 2015 ICF World Championships – 171 athlete quota places:

K1 and C1 events (men and women)

The top ranked athletes will receive one athlete quota place for their NOC. The numbers are indicated in the table above.

K2 and C2 events (men and women)

The top six ranked NOCs will receive two athlete quota places each.

K4 events (men and women)

All the athlete quota places will be allocated at the 2015 ICF World Championships. The top 10 ranked NOCs will receive four athlete quota places each.

There must be at least four continents represented in the top 10 ranked NOCs.

If there are less than four continents represented in the top 10 ranked NOCs, then the 10th, ninth and if necessary, the eighth ranked place(s) will be given to the next highest ranked NOC from a continent without any K4 athlete quota places.

Qualification in the same boat class over two different distances

When the same athlete claims a quota place in the same boat class but for two different distances (for example: men’s K1 1000m and K1 200m) the NOC will be attributed the place in 1000m for men or 500m for women. The unused athlete quota place in the 200m distance will be reattributed to the next best ranked NOC in that event, not yet qualified.

Qualification in different boat classes

An athlete who claims more than one quota place in different boat classes (for example: K1, K2, K4 or C2 and C1) will be attributed only one quota place for his/her NOC in the largest qualified boat class (regardless of how many places that athlete qualifies in other events).

The remaining athlete quota place will be reallocated to the next highest ranked NOC not yet qualified using the following procedure:

i) On completion of the 2015 ICF World Championships, should two athlete quota places be available for team boats in the same gender and category (for example: men’s kayak, men’s canoe or women’s kayak) then the places will be added together and given to the next highest ranked NOC not yet qualified in that category (1000m for men and 500m for women), starting with the largest boat class.

ii) On completion of the 2015 ICF World Championships, if one athlete quota place is available for team boats then the reallocated athlete quota place will be used to fill a team boat from the next highest ranked NOC not yet qualified in that category where an athlete quota place is required, in the same category and gender (for example: men’s kayak, men’s canoe or women’s kayak), to complete a boat quota, starting with the largest distance and largest boat.

iii) If the athlete quota place is unable to fill a team boat following the procedure outlined above then the place will be attributed to the next highest ranked NOC not yet qualified in the single events (for example: K1 men, C1 men, K1 women) in the same category and distance from which the athlete quota place originated from.

Continental qualification events – 72 athlete quota places

Only an NOC that has not obtained any athlete quota places in an event at the 2015 ICF World Championships can claim a quota place at their relevant continental qualification competition in that same event.  

A minimum of three NOCs must contest each athlete quota place at a continental qualification competition for the event to be eligible. If there are not three NOCs in each event then the athlete quota place will be reallocated via the ranking in that event at the 2015 ICF World Championships. This process will be followed and the place reallocated irrespective of the continent.

The number of athlete quota places available at the continental qualification events are:

 
K1 and C1 events (men and women)

Each continent will be given one athlete quota place for single boats to contest at each continental qualification event. For the European continental qualification event, two athlete quota places will be available per event.

K2 events (men and women)

Two athlete quota places will be contested at the European continental qualification event for the K2 men’s 1000m and 200m events, and the K2 women’s 500m.

In K2 men’s and women’s events the three next highest ranked NOCs from three different continents (excluding Europe) at the world championships will earn that continent two athlete quota places each. The two places will then be contested at the respective continental qualification event.

C2 men’s event

For men’s C2 1000m, two athlete quota places will be given to each continent bar Europe, which will have four athlete quota places available.

Maximum quotas at continental qualification events

An NOC can qualify a maximum of two athlete quota places in the men’s canoe category at the continental qualification events.

If an NOC obtains more than two athlete quota places in the men’s canoe category they will need to return the additional places.

Any remaining athlete quota place will be given to the next top ranked NOC, not yet qualified, from that continental qualification event.

Qualification in the same boat class over two distances at continental qualification events

An NOC can only qualify one boat per class regardless of the distance (for example: K1 1000m and 200m or K2 1000m and 200m). Should the NOC qualify in both distances in the same boat class then the NOC will be attributed the place in 1000m for men or 500m for women. The unused athlete quota place in the 200m distance will be reattributed to the next best ranked NOC in that event, not yet qualified.

Qualification in different boat classes at continental qualification events

An athlete who claims more than one athlete quota place at a continental qualification event in different boat classes (i.e. K1, K2 or C2 and C1) will be attributed only one athlete quota in the largest qualified boat class. The remaining athlete quota place will be reallocated to the next highest ranked NOC not yet qualified using the following procedure:

i) If two athlete quota places are available from team boats in the same gender and category (for example: men’s kayak or canoe or women’s kayak) then the places will be added together and given to the next best ranked NOC not yet qualified in that category (1000m for men and 500m for women).

ii) If one athlete quota place is available from team boats then the reallocated athlete quota place will be used to fill a team boat from the next best ranked NOC not yet qualified in that category where an athlete quota place is required within the same class and gender (for example: men’s C2, men’s K2 or women’s K2) to complete a boat quota, starting with the largest distance.

iii) If the athlete quota place is unable to fill a team boat following the procedure outlined above then the place will be attributed to the next best ranked NOC not yet qualified in the single events (i.e. K1 men, C1 men, K1 women) in the same category and distance from which the athlete quota place came from

Host NOC places

Should the host NOC not manage to obtain an athlete quota place in each respective category (i.e. men’s kayak, women’s kayak and men’s canoe), it will be entitled to receive one athlete quota place in the following events:

• Men’s kayak single (K1) 1000m
• Men’s canoe single (C1) 1000m
• Women’s kayak single (K1) 500m

Tripartite Commission invitation places

Two Tripartite Commission invitation places in single boats are made available to eligible NOCs at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. These places can be attributed to canoe sprint and/or canoe slalom athletes.

To be eligible an athlete must have participated in at least one Olympic qualification event. The Tripartite Commission invitation places for canoe are only available in single boats.

On 15 October 2015, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will invite all eligible NOCs to submit their requests for Tripartite Commission invitation places. The deadline for these requests is 15 January 2016. The Tripartite Commission will confirm, in writing, the allocation of invitation places to the relevant NOCs after the end of the qualification period for each sport.

Confirmation process for quota places

Within two weeks of the conclusion of each qualification event, the ICF will publish the results on its website and in Paddleaway (the ICF internal newsletter). They will also inform the respective NOCs/NFs of their allocated quota places. The NOCs will then have 10workingdays to confirm if they wish to use these quota places, as detailed in the Qualification Timeline section.

Reallocation of unused quota places

Reallocation of unused qualification places

2015 ICF World Championships

If an allocated quota place from the 2015 ICF World Championships is not confirmed by the NOC by the deadline or is declined by the NOC, then the quota place will be reallocated to the next highest ranked NOC in that event, not yet qualified. This process will be repeated until all places are allocated.

Continental qualification events

i) If an allocated quota place from the continental qualification events is not confirmed by the NOC by the deadline or is declined by the NOC, the quota place will be reallocated to the next highest ranked NOC in that event at that continental qualification event, not yet qualified. The process will be repeated until all places are allocated.

ii) In a situation where there are no more eligible NOCs that can gain an athlete quota place from the continental qualification event, the next best ranked NOC from that continent in the same event at the 2015 ICF World Championships, not yet qualified, will be allocated the quota place.

iii)  In the case that no further NOCs from the same continent can gain a place from the 2015 ICF World Championships, the athlete quota place will be given to the next highest ranked NOC from the 2015 ICF World Championships, not yet qualified, regardless of continental representation.

If an athlete quota place is not filled from the procedures outlined above, the ICF executive committee would then reallocate the remaining quota place to the next highest ranked NOC, not yet qualified, based on the results of the 2015 ICF World Championships across all Olympic events.

Reallocation of unused host NOC places

Unused host NOC places will be reallocated to the next highest ranked NOC not yet qualified in the respective event at the 2015 ICF World Championships.

Reallocation of unused Tripartite Commission invitation places

If the Tripartite Commission is not able to allocate a Tripartite Commission invitation place, it will be reallocated to the next best ranked NOC from the 2015 ICF World Championships that has not qualified any quota place in the sport of canoe (canoe slalom/canoe sprint).

Qualification timeline