As Jean-Michel Prono prepares to depart as Chair of the International Canoe Federation Canoe Slalom Committee, we sat down with the Frenchman to reflect on his 20-year tenure. 

Back in January 2006, a three-day meeting was held in Warsaw, Poland where Jean-Michel Prono set out his vision for the future of Canoe Slalom. 

The International Canoe Federation Olympic Disciplines Symposium saw Mr Prono and his Canoe Slalom Committee put forward a series of suggestions that they felt could take the sport to the next level. 

His three goals were to improve slalom participation worldwide, advance towards gender equality and facilitate spectator understanding and excitement. 

When reading through the document from that meeting almost 19 years ago, it’s clear that Mr Prono has achieved what he set out to do. 

In 2006, there were just four Canoe Slalom events at the Olympic Games, three for men and only one for women. 

Now, Canoe Slalom could not be in a better place with six Olympic events including three for men and three for women in a nine-day action-packed programme. 

As well as achieving gender parity, Mr Prono has overseen the growth of Canoe Slalom globally with an increasing number of new nations from all five continents emerging on the international scene. 

Judging by the passionate fans that filled the stands at Paris 2024, spectators are thoroughly enjoying the thrills and spills of Canoe Slalom. 

Under the heading “Brainstorming Possibilities” in the 2006 document, Mr Prono even tabled suggestions for an additional format in the Olympics, including a “head-to-head” competition that he felt could generate increased opportunity for developing nations to get into the Games. 

These ideas came nine years before the new Olympic event of kayak cross was even introduced to the global stage. 

“This document in 2006 shows you how much of a long-term vision you need to have if you want to go somewhere with a pathway, knowing where you want to go,” said Mr Prono.   

“Every time you have a success, you can analyse why this success happened but you also need to analyse what we can do better and what we have to change to make things still move forward.” 

The meeting in Warsaw took place just over a year after Mr Prono was elected as Chair of the ICF Canoe Slalom Committee for the first time after overcoming incumbent Peter Horster of Germany by 51 votes to 45. 

It was a position Mr Prono said he was encouraged to stand for after helping with the organisation of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. 

“Everybody, the coaches and the community, pushed for me to be a candidate at the next Congress,” said Mr Prono. 

“The election was tough, but I won it. 

“I was a candidate but not necessarily one with a plan. 

“That happened in the first six months when I started working with my committee members and the community.” 

Mr Prono came into the role with a vast amount of experience in the sport as an athlete, coach and administrator. He had been coach of the national teams in Spain and France and been the Technical Operations Manager for Canoe Slalom at Athens 2004. 

Since taking on the role as Chair and putting his team together, Mr Prono has given his all in a bid to shape a better future for the discipline. 

“From 2005, the French Sports Ministry allowed 80 per cent of my working time to be dedicated to my ICF duties,” said Mr Prono. 

“This gave me a lot of strength and capacity to really administrate the sport. 

“The committee members were also super dedicated as well so it was like a machine. 

“After a first mandate to discover and embrace the duties of the position, I was able to start building the evolution of the discipline. 

“My skill was to find the people to work with me to support my leadership and vision and help to make this happen.” 

After taking the chairmanship in 2004, Mr Prono was re-elected in 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2021 without facing an opponent, underlining people’s faith in his leadership. 

Over his 20-year tenure, technology advanced immeasurably and Mr Prono said he was keen to ensure Canoe Slalom was at the forefront of those changes to assist the judging system and improve TV coverage. 

“When we started in 2004, each team was filming each run of each athlete with a small crew,” said Mr Prono. 

“We said why don’t we create a service that can be provided to all teams and to the officials in case we wanted to review penalties. 

“That’s when we started the TVS, the Technical Video Service. 

“All the technology from this feed has developed a tool that allows us to review as soon as possible after the run and even during the run.” 

Securing the services of live timing and scoring provider Siwidata was one of Mr Prono’s proudest moments as Chair of the ICF Canoe Slalom Committee. 

“You have to make sure that the competition is organised with a good level of technical requirement delivery,” said Mr Prono. 

“That was one of the most important tasks that we achieved. 

“Having a sole service timing and scoring provider in Siwidata has been crucial. 

“We wanted to deliver a consistent programme with a consistent judging system in a transparent way which was fast and compatible with the TV coverage. 

“The results must be instant. 

“We have standardised competition at events and now we have a lot of documents available for the organisers in a toolbox. 

“The committee has been very instrumental in making things happen along with the relationship with the Host Organising Committees.” 

Another proud moment for Mr Prono was seeing kayak cross hit the Olympic stage – less than 10 years after it was first devised. 

Mr Prono was instrumental in the creation of kayak cross that first appeared as a demonstration event in 2015 before featuring at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in 2017 and then securing a place on the Olympic programme for Paris 2024. 

“Kayak cross was the reason why I stayed for the mandate from Tokyo to Paris,” said Mr Prono. 

“We still had quite a lot of reluctance within the slalom community towards kayak cross at the time we finished Tokyo. 

“It was absolutely necessary to keep the leadership and focus on this product which was not easy. 

“The outcome was great, but the next challenge is to make it simpler and more practical to do on a daily basis and in different competitions. 

“Going back to the document in 2006, there is one point where we looked at an alternative format we could propose. If you look at it, we had the head-to-head format. 

“The (International Olympic Committee) Programme Commission wanted something more accessible and trendy that would appeal to the youth. 

“This is when we started to produce this kayak cross project. 

“It can still be improved as it’s a very green product. 

“If you think that slalom has been evolving for 75 years since the 1950s, kayak cross has only been evolving for 10 years.” 

Mr Prono’s passion for the sport remains as strong as ever as he stresses the importance of increasing Canoe Slalom activity on a local, regional and continental level across the world. 

But Mr Prono admits the time is right to end his time as Chair of the ICF Canoe Slalom Committee as he looks to spend more time with his family. 

“There is a mix of emotions,” added Mr Prono. 

“You can hear in the tone of my voice when I speak that I am still actively involved in business, but I will have to disconnect at some point. 

“It’s time to leave because I am getting older and I want to enjoy these coming years to do what I love, like running on the mountain, cycling, skiing and enjoying being with my family.”