Slalom

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Whitewater Slalom is a competitive sport where the aim is to navigate a decked canoe or kayak through a course of gates on river rapids in the fastest time possible

Rules

Each gate consists of two poles hanging from a wire strung across the river. There are 20- 30 numbered gates in a course and they are colored as either green (downstream) or red (upstream), indicating the direction they must be negotiated. Upstream gates are placed in eddies, where the water is flat or moving slightly upstream; the paddler makes the 'breakout' and paddles upstream through the gate. Some races even contain reverse gates, to be navigated backwards, which are marked with the letter 'R'. Slalom courses typically take between 80 to 300 seconds to complete. Each competitor has two runs on the course, and the final result is based either on the faster run (in smaller races) or the sum of the two runs (in National and Olympic competitions).

If the competitor's boat, paddle or body touches either pole of the gate, a time penalty of two seconds is added. If the competitor misses a gate completely, displaces it by more than 45 degrees, goes through the gate upside-down, or goes through it in the wrong order, a 50 second penalty is given.

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