A select group of around 50 medallists from last month’s Canoe Sprint World Championships, held in Milan, will take part this weekend (4-6 September) in the Aquece Rio International Canoe Sprint Challenge, the 10th test event to be held in Rio de Janeiro ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The event, not open to the public, will take place at the iconic Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas and will bring together 180 athletes from 30 countries.

 

Among the Milan medal winners taking part are big international names such as Germany’s Sebastian Brendel, Denmark’s René Holten Poulsen, Canada’s Mark de Jonge and the Hungarian Gabriela Szabó, as well as the Brazilians Isaquias Queiroz and Erlon Silva. Brazilians will be in the line-up for the Para-Canoe test event, too, scheduled to run concurrently, starting at 1pm on Saturday, with Fernando Fernandes, Fernando Rufino, Debora Benivides and Aline Souza competing alongside international para-athletes including Austrian Markus Swoboda and German Tom Kierey.

 

“The main focus of these events is to test the results and management of the competition,” said Sebastián Cuattrin, the canoe sprint sports manager at the Rio 2016 organising committee. Another key piece of work tested at the Lagoa Stadium will be the rescue protocol for Paralympic athletes.

 

“They have modifications whereby they are firmly attached to the boats, such that they feel really connected to the equipment and can paddle better. However, there are times when they turn over in the water and it’s not so easy to remove them from the boat,” Cuattrin explains. “So the fire and rescue team has been trained with the para-canoe competitors in mind.”

 

Cuattrin – who represented Brazil at the Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Olympic Games – outlines the benefits for the athletes in taking part in the test event. “It’s worth it, mainly to evaluate the course conditions and the wind that they’re going to face next year.” 

 

The Olympic canoe sprint test event will feature a mix of seven singles and doubles men’s sprint races and three singles and doubles women’s races. The Paralympic canoe sprint test event will feature three race categories for both men and women.