The battle for Olympic and Paralympic selection will begin for Australia’s best canoe sprint paddlers at the combined Oceania Championships and Grand Prix 2 regatta in Adelaide from 12 to 14 February.

More than 170 athletes from 11 countries will contest the three-day event which will be the first of two selection trials to determine the Olympic, Paralympic and national teams for 2016.

The National Sprint Championships in Perth from 2 to 6 March will act as the second selection trial.

Racing will commence on Friday with the women’s K1 200, men’s K1 200 and paracanoe events to feature on the opening morning.

“This is the first phase in the Olympic selection process and an opportunity for athletes to get a foot in the door with a win ahead of round two of trials at the nationals in three weeks’ time,” National Performance Director Richard Fox said.

“Importantly it is also the last opportunity for us to qualify the additional Oceania quotas we are chasing, particularly in women's kayak, but also in men's kayak and the men's canoe events.”

“Every day of racing will have its significance, either in terms of an Olympic quota place or a win on the board in the Australian selection process, starting with Friday's men's K4 1000 final and women's K1 200 final which promise to be close fought affairs.”

Olympic quota pursuit
The 2016 Oceania Canoe Sprint Continental Olympic Qualification Event will take place in conjunction with the Oceania Canoe Sprint Championships at the West Lakes Regatta Centre, Adelaide, South Australia, 12 to 14 February 2016.

The event will determine how many athletes we can nominate for selection to the Australian Olympic Committee.

At last year’s ICF canoe sprint World Championships in Milan, Australia secured seven men’s kayak Olympic quotas.

This week they will have the opportunity to secure an additional men’s kayak, three women’s kayak and two men’s canoe Olympic quotas.

The qualification events will take place in the designated heats between the nominated representatives of each eligible National Federation.

Below are the nominated Australian athletes:
K1 W 200 – Alana Nicholls (pictured)
K1 W 500 – Jo Brigden-Jones
K2 W 500 – Alyssa Bull and Alyce Burnett
K1 M 200 – Steve Bird
K2 M 200 – Callum Dunn and Ben McLean
C1 M 200 – Sebastian Marczak
C1 M 1000 – Charles Ellis
C2 M 1000 – Marius Florian and Jason Nejman

Please note: A max of 2 canoe quotas can be qualified at Oceania, and only if we earn the C2 quota. For events to be valid we need three eligible NOCs at the start.

For more information on the selection process please refer to the links below.

ICF Qualification guidelines

Olympic Nomination Criteria

Paracanoe Performance Guidelines

Senior and Paracanoe Policy