First round of canoe sprint quotas allocated

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Canoe sprint Olympic powerhouses Germany have qualified a full team of nine male athletes and Belarus nine female athletes for Tokyo 2020, following the official allocation of quota positions after last week’s ICF world championships in Szeged, Hungary.

More country places are still to be allocated, with most to be determined at continental championships. But for the German men’s team, and the women’s team from Belarus, they already have the six kayak and three canoe quotas locked away, and can now start focusing on who will fill those positions.

The Spanish and Australian men’s teams have earned the full six places in the men’s kayak, while New Zealand, Hungary, Poland, France, Ukraine and China are among a long list women’s team to qualify the kayak maximum for Tokyo.

While the German men’s team already has a full complement locked away for the Olympics, the German women’s team, traditionally one of the strongest nations at the Olympics, still have the option to earn another two places after only qualifying their K4 boat in Szeged.

Likewise, the Hungarian men are still looking to grab one more quota, after their K4 and K1 1000 boats were both qualified last week.

Great Britain has earned just one quota for Tokyo, courtesy of Liam Heath in the men’s K1 200. Canada qualified both their men’s and women’s K4, Romania has a C2 men’s boat qualified, and Cuba has both a men’s and women’s C2 crew locked away.

Every country can qualify six athletes for the kayak events and three for the canoe events. Athletes from that pool can compete in more than one event, even if the country has not qualified in that specific race.

For example, athletes competing in a K4 can also compete in K2 and K1 events. Likewise in canoe, athletes from C2 can also race the C1. It also means a country can have two boats in K1, K2 and C1 events.

While the countries qualify the places, athletes will need to earn their seat in the boats through national selections.

More quota positions will be available at upcoming continental championships, and then the last berths will be determined at next year’s ICF world cup in Duisburg in May.