Whatever it’s called this is exciting

Bloody loved that (and not just because Joe Clarke did well). Really nice how all the guys wait for each other at the bottom, seemed really happy for each other, even when it meant they weren’t getting a medal.

I think they need to wait at the bottom so a bloke with a hook on a stick can fish them out.

But yes, really good to watch.

Don’t know why I get excited about a sport I’ve not got a clue about. Well they all know how hard they’ve worked to get there.

Rules in slalom in the UK (and maybe internationally, I don’t know!) say each competitor waits for the next person down to finish to act as a safety in case they swim. Always nice to see them stop and congratulate each other and all stick together though. Joe Clarke did ace, so close between the top 5 though!

Am I a bad person for cheering when the last paddler got the nose of his boat thrown up by a wave at the bottom, which was the point I knew Joe had won? Amazed how fast the Czech paddler was – was sure he’d also lost time when he picked up the penalty, but clearly he was just moving so fast through the rest of the course.

I think the international rules are the same on that, Pyro – though it seems to be standard for them to all wait on the water at the bottom in big finals (not something I’d know about!)

Hopefully the Gold medal will attract increased investment in the sport like track cycling and building new facilities around the country? Certainly different from the cold-water dunkings I had to endure in my teens in Scotland where we could only paddle in winter when the water was high enough – often having to break ice at the put-in and ice forming around your wetsuit mitts 😯

they wait at the bottom until they reverse the pumps so they can get back to the top.

We got a gold last time too, and I’m not sure that was followed by increased investment and new facilities – the only new facility since then was the one at Glasgow, though that I think is a Commonwealth Games legacy project and given the build timescales doubtless the funding was in place well before 2012. Though quite a bit has been built before that – most obviously Lea Valley, though Cardiff wasn’t much before that.

Plenty of summer whitewater in Scotland – I’m fairly sure I raced at Grandtully in August or September (though I do also remember it snowing there in April). How old are you though, because artificial courses which run in summer are nothing new – the first here was the Trywerwyn which was developed for the 1981 world championships. Also Nottingham which took over from that as the national centre until LV, Tees Barrage and a smaller one at Cardington – Washburn is a natural river, but still dam release so can run in summer too, I’d be surprised if there aren’t similar sites to that in Scotland I don’t know about.

I’m 51 so my jaded memories are of my teens in the upper waters of the Clyde – two of my paddle-buddies went on to compete for Scotland at international level but I became more interested in climbing and skiing as it was more accessible (to me). Now living in Hampshire and dabbling again in flatwater paddling – Basingstoke canal at the end of my road, so simply walk 80m from home to my put-in and off I go. I would race more if my local club wasn’t as cliquey. The Olympic coverage does a great job of showcasing the sport and hopefully encourage investment.

Canoes are canopen but kayaks are kayosed

Rules in slalom in the UK (and maybe internationally, I don’t know!) say each competitor waits for the next person down to finish to act as a safety in case they swim

Who waits for the first person though? 😀

Not much older than me then, though I suppose the difference is that when I was a teen Trywerwyn was already open and Nottingham opened whilst I was still at school so spent plenty of time paddling at those. Also Thames weirs which ran in summer – though strangely enough my most local spot when I started and where I first paddled whitewater was Dobbs Weir, which is just up the road from Lea Valley. Basingstoke Canal Canoe Club seemed friendly enough when I was there, though that was 20 years ago.

except slalom canoes (C1 & C2) are closed…

Prerunners 😉

and surfskis are open

I guess you’ve probably raced at shepperton then.

or even the mighty yalding. …

Yep, both of those. I think I even have a trophy from Yalding from something like div 4 C2.

You’re also a slalom paddler? (was in my case – I last raced 16 years ago!)

a long long time ago. not much slalom in devon though so not got in a slalom boat since i moved down here.

once folded a C2 round one of the bridge piers at yalding. miscommunication…

I did enjoy playing spot the boat improvements last night. Anyone else see it?

I also found some of the changes to the C1s designs interesting too. Been out of this for too long!