The women's K-4 500 metres sprint canoeing event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 6 and 7 August 2021 at the Sea Forest Waterway. 48 canoeists (12 boats of 4) from 10 nations competed.
Background This was the 10th appearance of the event, having appeared at every Summer Olympics since 1984.
The reigning World Champions were Dóra Bodonyi, Erika Medveczky, Tamara Csipes, and Alida Dóra Gazsó of Hungary. The 2016 Olympic champions were also from Hungary: Gabriella Szabó, Danuta Kozák, Csipes, and Krisztina Fazekas.
Qualification
A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could qualify one place in the event. A total of 10 qualification places were available, all awarded through the 2019 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships. There were required to be boats from 4 continents qualified. Thus, the top 7 at the World Championships were guaranteed to qualify, with the 8th, 9th, and 10th spots potentially being reserved for continental qualifiers. Additional places resulted from reallocation of quota spots when individual canoeists were in multiple classes of qualifying boats at the World Championships (10 spots were available, allowing the ROC and Denmark boats to qualify, but were not sufficient to qualify Great Britain).
Qualifying places were awarded to the NOC, not to the individual canoeist who earned the place.
The World Championships places were allocated as follows:Canoe Sprint Quota Allocation
Rank Kayaker Nation Qualification Selected competitors 1Dóra BodonyiErika MedveczkyTamara CsipesAlida Dóra Gazsó Quota #1 (Continent #1) 2Maryna LitvinchukVolha KhudzenkaNadzeya LiapeshkaMarharyta Makhneva Quota #2 3Karolina NajaAnna PuławskaKatarzyna KołodziejczykHelena Wiśniewska Quota #3 4Lisa CarringtonAimee FisherCaitlin RegalKayla Imrie Quota #4 (Continent #2) 5Sarah GuyotLéa JamelotSarah TroëlManon Hostens Quota #5 6Tina DietzeFranziska JohnSabrina Hering-PradlerCaroline Arft Quota #6 7Alyce BurnettJo Brigden-JonesJaime RobertsAlyssa Bull Quota #7 8Inna HryshchunMariia Kichasova-SkorykMariya PovkhAnastasiia Todorova Quota #8 9Anastasia PanchenkoKira StepanovaKristina KovnirAnastasiia Dolgova 4 reallocated places 10Ma QingHuang JieyiZhou YuLi Dongyin Quota #9 (Continent #3) 11Emma JørgensenJulie FunchPernille KnudsenLine Langelund 3 reallocated places 12Michelle RussellCourtney StottLisa BissonnetteNatalie Davison Quota #10 (Continent #4) 13Angela HannahHannah BrownDeborah KerrEmily Lewis Not qualified; 3 of 4 places available
Competition format Sprint canoeing uses a four-round format for events with 12 boats, with heats, quarterfinals semifinals, and finals. The specifics of the progression format depend on the number of boats ultimately entered.
Heats: 2 heats of 6 boats each. The top 2 in each heat (4 boats total) advance directly to the semifinals. The remaining 8 boats compete in the quarterfinal. Quarterfinal: 1 heat of 8 boats. The top 6 advance to the semifinals. The remaining 2 boats compete in Final B, out of medal contention. Semifinals: 2 heats of 5 boats each. The top 4 in each heat (8 boats total) advance to Final A; the remaining 2 boats compete in Final B, out of medal contention. Final: 2 heats. Final A has the top 8 boats, awarding the medals and 4th through 8th place. Final B has the remaining 4 boats, ranking them 9th through 12th.
The course is a flatwater course 9 metres wide. The name of the event describes the particular format within sprint canoeing. The "K" format means a kayak, with the canoeist sitting, using a double-bladed paddle to paddle, and steering with a foot-operated rudder (as opposed to a canoe, with a kneeling canoeist, single-bladed paddle, and no rudder). The "4" is the number of canoeists in each boat. The "500 metres" is the distance of each race.
Schedule The event was held over two consecutive days, with two rounds per day. All sessions started at 9:30 a.m. local time, though there are multiple events with races in each session.
+Sprint Event↓/Date → Mon 2 Tue 3 Wed 4 Thu 5 Fri 6 Sat 7 Women's K-4 500 m H ½ F Canoers per team NumberRowersNation1Jaime Roberts - Jo Brigden-Jones - Shannon Reynolds - Catherine McArthur2Marharyta Makhneva - Nadzeya Papok - Volha Khudzenka - Maryna Litvinchuk3Andréanne Langlois - Michelle Russell - Alanna Bray-Lougheed - Madeline Schmidt4Li Dongyin - Zhou Yu - Ma Qing - Wang Nan5Emma Jørgensen - Julie Funch - Sara Milthers - Bolette Nyvang Iversen6Manon Hostens - Vanina Paoletti - Sarah Guyot - Léa Jamelot7Sabrina Hering-Pradler - Melanie Gebhardt - Jule Hake - Tina Dietze8Danuta Kozák - Tamara Csipes - Anna Kárász - Dóra Bodonyi9Lisa Carrington - Alicia Hoskin - Caitlin Regal - Teneale Hatton10Karolina Naja - Anna Puławska - Justyna Iskrzycka - Helena Wiśniewska11Natalia Podolskaya - Anastasiia Dolgova - Kira Stepanova - Svetlana Chernigovskaya12Mariia Kichasova-Skoryk - Liudmyla Kuklinovska - Anastasiia Todorova - Mariya Povkh
Results Heats Progression System: 1st-2nd to SF, rest to QF.
Heat 1 RankLaneCountryTimeNotes141:33.335SF22 1:33.959SF35 1:34.785QF471:38.971QF531:39.032QF661:39.224QF
Heat 2 RankLaneCountryTimeNotes131:33.468SF241:34.681SF361:36.249QF411:37.407QF521:38.453QF651:39.166QF
Quarterfinal Progression System: 1st-6th to SF, rest to Final B. RankLaneCountryTimeNotes151:35.534SF241:36.379SF311:36.948SF471:37.138SF561:37.601SF621:37.682SF781:38.372FB831:38.537FB
Semifinals Progression System: 1st-4th to Final A, rest to Final B.
Semifinal 1 RankLaneCountryTimeNotes151:36.529FA231:36.672FA341:36.737FA421:38.170FA561:38.202FB
Semifinal 2 RankLaneCountryTimeNotes151:36.078FA241:36.293FA331:36.697FA421:37.386FA561:38.489FB
Finals
Final A RankLaneCountryTimeNotes51:35.46331:36.07341:36.445461:37.168571:37.243621:38.121711:39.797881:41.141
Final B RankLaneCountryTimeNotes951:38.3461041:39.2761161:39.9461231:40.951
References