Teen Paddler Makes US Whitewater Olympic Team
 

Oh to be young again and live on the Nanthahala River! North Carolina teen paddler wins a spot on the US Olympic Whitewater Team! Can the club set up a trip on this whitewater course??? LOL!

All I can say is WOW and go team USA.
Were where the open Canoes????

I don't believe there are open canoes like we paddle in the Olympic slalom and flat water racing events. For slalom, the canoes are closed or decked boats, very much like kayaks, but the competitors kneel and use a single-blade paddle. It's hard to describe the canoes used in the flat water races, but they, too, are pretty much closed boats and nothing like the open boats we paddle. I believe there are downriver closed canoes similar to the boats that the flat water canoe racers use. But I don't know if there are downriver races scheduled for this summer's Olympics.

Maybe BandanaDan could chime in on the boats since he has done lots of racing.

All the racing I have done has been marathon flatwater and is a world removed from what's in this video. I agree with JP, although open canoes run whitewater rivers all the time, I have never seen them on a slalom course. Maybe they would be too slow to compete with the decked boats?

The flat water racing canoes are not as closed as I thought, but they are more closed than the canoes that we paddle. Check out the 1000 meter C-1 finals in the 2016 Olympics. Imagine paddling that hard for nearly four minutes!

Hard to believe any of them are considered canoes
Basically a kayak with canoe paddle.