More than 20 Olympians are included in the starting line-up for this weekend’s ICF canoe sprint Super Cup in Oklahoma City, headed by history-making American teenager Nevin Harrison.
The Super Cup has once again attracted athletes from around the world and will be televised internationally, including on Eurosport, NBC and the Olympic Channel. It will also be streamed live on the ICF website.
The exciting format has proved popular with athletes, spectators and online audiences at the previous two competitions, held in Barnaul, Russia, and Linyi, China.
19-year-old Harrison made canoe sprint history when she won the first ever Olympic gold medal on offer in women’s canoeing in Tokyo earlier this month. She also became the first ever American woman to win an Olympic canoe sprint gold medal.
Joining her in Oklahoma will be a strong line-up of athletes who competed in Tokyo, including medalists Adam Varga of Hungary, Canada’s Laurence Vincent-Lapointe and Ukraine’s Liudmyla Luzan.
Several medalists from previous Olympics, including Maxime Beaumont of France, Marta Walczykiewicz of Poland, Germany’s Peter Kretschmer, Belarus’s Volha Khudzenka and Russia’s Ivan Shtyl
The women’s C1 in Oklahoma will feature the three C1 200 Olympic medalists from Tokyo, with Canadian silver medalist Laurence Vincent-Lapointe and Ukraine’s bronze medalist Liudmyla Luzan also confirmed starters.
The third ICF Super Cup will once again showcase some of the world’s best canoe sprint paddlers in a modified format that provides a showdown between the fastest and the strongest.
The August 21 invitational Super Cup, which had been scheduled for 2020 but had to be postponed due to Covid-19, will feature both canoe and kayak races over 350 metres for men and women, as well as a mixed race, and will be televised live on networks around the globe.
There will also be a one-kilometre race which will feature a portage.
The excellent lighting at the course will give athletes a rare opportunity to race at night. It will also enable athletes to maintain race fitness between the Tokyo Olympics and this year’s ICF canoe sprint world championships in Copenhagen in September.
The boathouse district of Oklahoma City features a world-class 4000 metre race and training course and a $45m whitewater rafting and kayaking centre.
The inaugural ICF Super Cups were held in Barnaul, Russia, and Linyi, China, in 2019, and attracted Olympians and world champions from all corners of the globe.
