Canoeing at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's K-4 500 metres explained

Event:Women's K-4 500 metres
Games:2020 Summer
Venue:Sea Forest Waterway
Dates:6 August 2021 (heats)
7 August 2021 (semifinal & final)
Competitors:48 (12 boats)
Nations:12
Win Value:1:35.463
Gold:Danuta Kozák
Tamara Csipes
Anna Kárász
Dóra Bodonyi
Goldnoc:HUN
Silver:Marharyta Makhneva
Nadzeya Papok
Volha Khudzenka
Maryna Litvinchuk
Silvernoc:BLR
Bronze:Karolina Naja
Anna Puławska
Justyna Iskrzycka
Helena Wiśniewska
Bronzenoc:POL
Prev:2016
Next:2024

The women's K-4 500 metres sprint canoeing event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 6 and 7 August 2021 at the Sea Forest Waterway.[1] 48 canoeists (12 boats of 4) from 10 nations competed.[2]

Background

This was the 10th appearance of the event, having appeared at every Summer Olympics since 1984.

The reigning World Champions were Dóra Bodonyi, Erika Medveczky, Tamara Csipes, and Alida Dóra Gazsó of Hungary. The 2016 Olympic champions were also from Hungary: Gabriella Szabó, Danuta Kozák, Csipes, and Krisztina Fazekas.

Qualification

See main article: Canoeing at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification.

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could qualify one place in the event. A total of 10 qualification places were available, all awarded through the 2019 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships. There were required to be boats from 4 continents qualified. Thus, the top 7 at the World Championships were guaranteed to qualify, with the 8th, 9th, and 10th spots potentially being reserved for continental qualifiers. Additional places resulted from reallocation of quota spots when individual canoeists were in multiple classes of qualifying boats at the World Championships (10 spots were available, allowing the ROC and Denmark boats to qualify, but were not sufficient to qualify Great Britain).

Qualifying places were awarded to the NOC, not to the individual canoeist who earned the place.[2]

The World Championships places were allocated as follows:[3]

RankKayakerNationQualification Selected competitors
1Dóra Bodonyi
Erika Medveczky
Tamara Csipes
Alida Dóra Gazsó
Quota #1 (Continent #1)
2Maryna Litvinchuk
Volha Khudzenka
Nadzeya Liapeshka
Marharyta Makhneva
Quota #2
3Karolina Naja
Anna Puławska
Katarzyna Kołodziejczyk
Helena Wiśniewska
Quota #3
4Lisa Carrington
Aimee Fisher
Caitlin Regal
Kayla Imrie
Quota #4 (Continent #2)
5Sarah Guyot
Léa Jamelot
Sarah Troël
Manon Hostens
Quota #5
6Tina Dietze
Franziska John
Sabrina Hering-Pradler
Caroline Arft
Quota #6
7Alyce Burnett
Jo Brigden-Jones
Jaime Roberts
Alyssa Bull
Quota #7
8Inna Hryshchun
Mariia Kichasova-Skoryk
Mariya Povkh
Anastasiia Todorova
Quota #8
9Anastasia Panchenko
Kira Stepanova
Kristina Kovnir
Anastasiia Dolgova
4 reallocated places
10Ma Qing
Huang Jieyi
Zhou Yu
Li Dongyin
Quota #9 (Continent #3)
11Emma Jørgensen
Julie Funch
Pernille Knudsen
Line Langelund
3 reallocated places
12Michelle Russell
Courtney Stott
Lisa Bissonnette
Natalie Davison
Quota #10 (Continent #4)
13Angela Hannah
Hannah Brown
Deborah Kerr
Emily Lewis
Not qualified; 3 of 4 places available

Competition format

Sprint canoeing uses a four-round format for events with 12 boats, with heats, quarterfinals semifinals, and finals. The specifics of the progression format depend on the number of boats ultimately entered.[4]

The course is a flatwater course 9 metres wide. The name of the event describes the particular format within sprint canoeing. The "K" format means a kayak, with the canoeist sitting, using a double-bladed paddle to paddle, and steering with a foot-operated rudder (as opposed to a canoe, with a kneeling canoeist, single-bladed paddle, and no rudder). The "4" is the number of canoeists in each boat. The "500 metres" is the distance of each race.[5]

Schedule

The event was held over two consecutive days, with two rounds per day. All sessions started at 9:30 a.m. local time, though there are multiple events with races in each session.[1]

Sprint
Event↓/Date → Mon 2 Tue 3 Wed 4 Thu 5 Fri 6 Sat 7
Women's K-4 500 m H ½ F

Canoers per team

width=50Numberwidth=500Rowerswidth=125Nation
1Jaime Roberts - Jo Brigden-Jones - Shannon Reynolds - Catherine McArthur
2Marharyta Makhneva - Nadzeya Papok - Volha Khudzenka - Maryna Litvinchuk
3Andréanne Langlois - Michelle Russell - Alanna Bray-Lougheed - Madeline Schmidt
4Li Dongyin - Zhou Yu - Ma Qing - Wang Nan
5Emma Jørgensen - Julie Funch - Sara Milthers - Bolette Nyvang Iversen
6Manon Hostens - Vanina Paoletti - Sarah Guyot - Léa Jamelot
7Sabrina Hering-Pradler - Melanie Gebhardt - Jule Hake - Tina Dietze
8Danuta Kozák - Tamara Csipes - Anna Kárász - Dóra Bodonyi
9Lisa Carrington - Alicia Hoskin - Caitlin Regal - Teneale Hatton
10Karolina Naja - Anna Puławska - Justyna Iskrzycka - Helena Wiśniewska
11Natalia Podolskaya - Anastasiia Dolgova - Kira Stepanova - Svetlana Chernigovskaya
12Mariia Kichasova-Skoryk - Liudmyla Kuklinovska - Anastasiia Todorova - Mariya Povkh

Results

Heats

Progression System: 1st-2nd to SF, rest to QF.

Heat 1

width=30Rankwidth=30Lanewidth=150Countrywidth=30Timewidth=50Notes
141:33.335SF
221:33.959SF
351:34.785QF
471:38.971QF
531:39.032QF
661:39.224QF

Heat 2

width=30Rankwidth=30Lanewidth=150Countrywidth=30Timewidth=50Notes
131:33.468SF
241:34.681SF
361:36.249QF
411:37.407QF
521:38.453QF
651:39.166QF

Quarterfinal

Progression System: 1st-6th to SF, rest to Final B.

width=30Rankwidth=30Lanewidth=150Countrywidth=30Timewidth=50Notes
151:35.534SF
241:36.379SF
311:36.948SF
471:37.138SF
561:37.601SF
621:37.682SF
781:38.372FB
831:38.537FB

Semifinals

Progression System: 1st-4th to Final A, rest to Final B.

Semifinal 1

width=30Rankwidth=30Lanewidth=150Countrywidth=30Timewidth=50Notes
151:36.529FA
231:36.672FA
341:36.737FA
421:38.170FA
561:38.202FB

Semifinal 2

width=30Rankwidth=30Lanewidth=150Countrywidth=30Timewidth=50Notes
151:36.078FA
241:36.293FA
331:36.697FA
421:37.386FA
561:38.489FB

Finals

Final A

width=30Rankwidth=30Lanewidth=150Countrywidth=30Timewidth=50Notes
51:35.463
31:36.073
41:36.445
461:37.168
571:37.243
621:38.121
711:39.797
881:41.141

Final B

width=30Rankwidth=30Lanewidth=150Countrywidth=30Timewidth=50Notes
951:38.346
1041:39.276
1161:39.946
1231:40.951

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Canoe Sprint Competition Schedule . Tokyo 2020 . 25 June 2021 . 3 July 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210703154210/https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/schedule/canoe-sprint-schedule . dead .
  2. News: Qualification System – Games of the XXXI Olympiad – Canoe Sprint. International Canoe Federation. 25 June 2021.
  3. https://www.canoeicf.com/sites/default/files/canoe_sprint_quota_allocation_-_tokyo_2020_-_media_format.pdf Canoe Sprint Quota Allocation
  4. Web site: Canoe Sprint Progression System . ICF . 25 June 2021.
  5. Web site: Canoe Sprint . IOC . 25 June 2021 . 3 July 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210703154152/https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/sports/canoe-sprint/ . dead .