Canoe slalom boat trajectory while negotiating an upstream gate

The aim of this study was to determine how the path chosen by elite slalom paddlers influences the time taken to negotiate an upstream gate. Six trials for international men's single kayak (MK1) (n = 11) and single canoe (C1) (n = 6) paddlers were digitized for a left-hand upstream gate. Results revealed that the absolute variability of paddlers increased as their total time increased (r = 0.594), but the coefficient of variation remained constant. There was a strong correlation (r = 0.89, each individual trial; r = 0.93, mean total time for each participant) between boat trajectory and the total time. The MK1 and C1 paddlers used similar strategies to negotiate an upstream gate. There were significant differences (P < 0.05) between the boat trajectory of the fastest and slowest paddlers (average distance between paddler's head and the inside pole). These results suggest that to achieve a faster upstream gate performance, paddlers should concentrate on the distance between their head and the inside pole. However, there would be an optimal distance beyond which any further reduction in the distance would impede technique and performance.