Flatwater Sprint Racing is one of the best-known competitive canoeing disciplines in Australia. This is probably due to its inclusion in the Olympic Games since 1936 and Australia’s involvement in All Olympics from the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. Flatwater Racing is all about speed on flat water over distances of 200 metres, 500 metres and 1000 metres. The crafts that have developed are sleek and fast but unstable.
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What is Canoe Sprint?
Canoe sprint takes place on a flatwater course and races are contested by two types of boat, canoe (C) and kayak (K). In a canoe, the paddler competes in a striding position using a single-blade paddle, in contrast to the double-bladed paddle used in a sitting position in a kayak. At international level the discipline is competed at four distances from 200m to 5000m, both individually and in teams of up to four. Each discipline is categorised by boat type, number of competitors per boat, gender, and race distance, meaning the example of C2M 500m is the canoe male doubles 500m.
Canoe sprint made its debut at the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936 with nine men’s events, with that number reduced to eight in London 12 years later to accommodate the first women’s race at the Games, the K1W 500m won by Denmark’s Karen Hoff. Canoe sprint has featured in every Games since, and the 2020 programme in Tokyo will consist of six men’s and six women’s events.
Things you need to know
- Canoe Sprint is a race to the line on a flatwater course with international competition set over four distances: 200, 500, 1000 and 5000 meters.
- Races are contested as individuals and teams with up to four athletes in a boat.
- Both canoes and kayaks compete in the sprint discipline and are distinguished on the results sheet by their initial letter C and K followed by the number of competitors in the boat, the gender and then the distance. For example, K1M 200m is Kayak Men’s Singles over 200 meters.
- In a kayak, the paddler is seated and uses a double-bladed paddle pulling the blade through the water on alternate sides to propel the boat forward.
- In a canoe, the paddle has a single-blade and the athlete uses a striding position with one knee on the deck and the other foot forward allowing room to pull the paddle down their preferred side of the canoe.
- In international competition races are split into nine lanes that are allocated randomly in the initial heats; subsequently lane positions are set by qualification time: five being the fastest to qualify, then six, four, three, two, seven, eight, one and nine.
- The Olympic Games is an exception, with races comprising of eight athletes with the fastest two occupying lanes four and five after the initial preliminary shakeout.

2021 Results
Sprint Development camp 16th Jan Essendon
VIC Sprint State Championships 30-31st Jan Nagambie
Paddle Victoria Victorian Paddle School Twilight Sprint 5th March Studley Park Boathouse
VIC School Sprint Championships 14th Mar Nagambie
2020 Results
VIC Sprint State Championships 19th Jan Nagambie
VIC School Sprint Championships 15th Mar Nagambie
Geelong Sprint Regatta 13th Dec Geelong
2019 Results
Sprint Carnival
VIC Sprint State Championships results 17th Feb Nagambie
VIC School Sprint Championships results 17th Mar Nagambie
Past Results
2017
2015
Victorian Sprint Championships 2015 – Results
2014
Victorian Sprint Championships 2014 – Race Results
2011/12 season
18/11/12 Sprint Regatta Nagambie
19/02/12 Victorian Sprint (500 & 1000m) Championships 500m results 1000m results
21/01/12 Victorian Sprint (200m) Championships
20/11/11 Sprint Regatta Nagambie
30/10/11 5 & 10km Championships Patterson Lakes
2010 – 2011 Sprint Season
15/08/10 5 & 10km Championships
15/01/11 Sprint Regatta – cancelled
05/02/11 Sprint Regatta
19/02/11 Victorian Championships
06/03/11 School Sprint Championships – School points totals
2009 – 2010 Sprint Season
21/02/10 1000 & 500m Championships
01/05/10 School Sprint Championships
VIC Team 2019
Canoe Sprint Senior Team VIC representatives:
2019 Competition schedule:
- 24-26 May 2019, ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup 1, Poznan, Poland
- 21-24 August 2019, ICF Paracanoe World Championships, Szeged, Hungary (2020 Paralympic Qualification – Event 1)
Reynolds | Amanda | Patterson Lakes |
Canoe Sprint National Championships Perth - 6-10 March 2019
Champions Lake, WA
Reynolds | Amanda | Patterson Lakes |
Tonkin | Georgie | Coaching Evolution |
Wight | Briely | Geelong |
Grand Prix 2 Penrith - 8-10 February 2019
Sydney International Regatta Centre, NSW
Abraham | Reka | Ivanhoe Northcote Canoe C | |||
Burton | Joseph | Mitta Mitta | |||
Clarke | Brendan | Ivanhoe Northcote Canoe C | |||
de Kretser | Rachel | Ivanhoe Northcote Canoe C | |||
Harrison | Em | Ivanhoe Northcote Canoe C | |||
Ilott | Ashlee | Bendigo | |||
Lazzarotto | Leo | Fairfield | |||
Leverett | Kate | Barwon Heads | |||
Leverett | Michael | Barwon Heads | |||
Lopez Garza | Daniel | Melbourne | |||
Nguyen | Chau | Fairfield | |||
Reynolds | Amanda | Victorian Sprint Paddlers | |||
Scott | Hannah | Ivanhoe Northcote Canoe C | |||
Spanner | Seamus | Barwon Heads | |||
Tonkin | Georgie | Coaching Evolution | |||
Wakim | Sabastian | Fairfield | |||
Young | Hamish | Ivanhoe Northcote Canoe C |
Grand Prix 1 Adelaide - 7-9 December 2018
West Lakes, SA
Abraham | Reka | Ivanhoe Northcote Canoe C |
Cameron | Noah | Fairfield |
Clarke | Brendan | Ivanhoe Northcote Canoe C |
Doyle | Macgregor | Fairfield |
Ford | Nick | Patterson Lakes |
Ilott | Ashlee | Bendigo |
Johnson | Alana | Warrnambool |
Johnson | Ben | Barwon Heads |
Johnson | Ellie | Warrnambool |
Johnson | Isaac | Ivanhoe Northcote Canoe C |
Jones | Brianna | Ivanhoe Northcote Canoe C |
Lamb | Maddie | Barwon Heads |
Nguyen | Chau | Fairfield |
Reyntjes | Wendy | Geelong |
Robinson | Lachlan | Patterson Lakes |
Spanner | Seamus | Barwon Heads |
Webb | Emma | Geelong |
Wight | Briely | Geelong |
VIC team 2018
Canoe Sprint National Championships VIC representatives:
6-10 March, Sydney, SIRC, NSW
Abraham | Reka | Ivanhoe Northcote Canoe C |
Cameron | Noah | Fairfield |
Clarke | Brendan | Ivanhoe Northcote Canoe C |
Doyle | Macgregor | Fairfield |
Dutton | Logan | Coaching Evolution |
Galovic | Monika | Patterson Lakes |
Garo | Dean | Patterson Lakes |
Ilott | Ashlee | Bendigo |
Jones | Brianna | Ivanhoe Northcote Canoe C |
Lamb | Maddie | Barwon Heads |
Mann | Rebecca | Coaching Evolution |
O’Kelly-Kennedy | Kathleen | Patterson Lakes |
Reynolds | Amanda | Victorian Sprint Paddlers |
Scott | Hannah | Ivanhoe Northcote Canoe C |
Spanner | Seamus | Barwon Heads |
Tonkin | Georgie | Coaching Evolution |
Wight | Briely | Geelong |
Canoe Sprint Senior Selection VIC representatives:
4-5 March, Sydney, SIRC, NSW
Dutton | Logan | Coaching Evolution |
Oceania Championships / Grand Prix 2 VIC representatives:
9-11 February, Sydney, SIRC, NSW
Abraham | Reka | Ivanhoe Northcote Canoe C |
Beale | Chelsea | Coaching Evolution |
Cameron | Noah | Fairfield |
Doyle | Macgregor | Fairfield |
Dutton | Logan | Coaching Evolution |
Ilott | Ashlee | Bendigo |
Jones | Brianna | Ivanhoe Northcote Canoe C |
Mann | Rebecca | Coaching Evolution |
Neilson | Isabel | Coaching Evolution |
Reynolds | Amanda | Victorian Sprint Paddlers |
Scott | Hannah | Ivanhoe Northcote Canoe C |
Tonkin | Georgie | Coaching Evolution |
Wakim | Sabastian | Fairfield |
Sprint Spring Regatta #1
Grand Prix 1 - Adelaide 7-9th Dec 2018
Grand Prix 2 - Penrith, 8-10th Feb 2019
Canoe Sprint National Championships - Perth, 6-10th March 2019
VIC School Sprint Championships - Nagambie, 17th March 2019
Sprint Committee: 2020/2021
Follow us on:
Useful links:
- SPRINT! The Beginners Guide to canoe sprint racing #1
- SPRINT! The Beginners Guide to canoe sprint racing #2
- SPRINT! The Beginners Guide to canoe sprint racing #3
- Sprint Canoe Technique with Olympic Champion Sebastian Brendel | Gillette World Sport
- Race-Off Rowing (M4) vs Kayaking (K4) – Melbourne, Australia
Victorian clubs that do sprint paddling
Canoeing Victoria has many affiliated clubs who specialise in sprint paddling and have club coaches and boats available for their members to use when building their skills. For more information, contact the clubs directly. A list of clubs who support sprint paddling can be found here.