Olympics Canoe or Kayak

[Glenn MacGrady]

A group of paddlers on a trip I was leading on the Potomac stopped by the whitewater course at Dickerson, Md in the early 2000s. There we encountered the Olympic C2 team of Matt Taylor and Joe Jacobi, practicing with a coach.

I was puzzled by the fact that the 2024 Olympics has no C2 whitewater slalom event. Research indicates that men's C2 slalom was dropped in the 2021 Olympics and women's C1 slalom was added. The Olympics apparently has never had a women's C2 or mixed C2 slalom event.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

1/100 of a second photo finish between USA and Canada in the women's C1 flat water 200 meter race:

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Men's C1 flat water 1000 meters:

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

I love watching climbing. In the Olympics, there will be medals for speed climbing, which is what you may be describing. Speed climbing is the fastest sport in the world. It's over in less than 5 seconds for men and 7 seconds for women. There is another set of medals for the combo of boulder climbing and lead climbing. Janja Garnbret of Slovenia is the dominant woman in this event—the Jessica Fox/Simone Biles of women's boulder/lead climbing. However, the USA has two strong competitors in Natalia Grossman and Brooke Raboutou.

USA's Natalia Grossman got eliminated in the semifinals of boulder/lead, but Brooke Raboutou battled GOAT Janja Garnbret for gold in the event.

Brooke Raboutou on boulder climbing:

Janja Garnbret on boulder:

Brooke on lead climbing:

Janja on lead: