After achieving a silver medal in the slalom discipline in 2004, the U.S. hopes to win another slalom medal in Beijing.  The strongest contenders are in the men’s kayak, where Scott Parsons and Brett Heyl are duking it out for the top spot in the U.S. 

Parsons and Heyl have both finished in the top ten at World Cups this year, and are focused on doing even better at the upcoming World Championships.  Parsons was sixth in Athens in ’04, but that will not satisfy him in ’08.  The canoe discipline also has a young superstar, where 17-year-old Benn Fraker is turning heads in a big way on the international scene.  He is also a possible contender in Beijing.

The sprint program has made an enormous turnaround since 2004.  With a team of very young paddlers, new head coach Nathan Luce has changed the mentality of the whole team.  The team is working together in the team boats and letting their individual skills grow out of that.  Luce firmly believes that with strong team boats, good results in the individual boats will naturally follow.  This seems to be holding true, as the athletes are steadily improving.

Storylines

Scott Parsons and Brett Heyl both went to the Athens Games in slalom in the men’s kayak, as the rules allowed for two U.S. boats to be entered in that class.  Things have changed this time around, and only one will get to go.  These guys have known each other since they were kids. They've grown up together and competed against one another, and yet only one will get to continue their ultimate dream in 2008.  Both Bethesda natives and pupils of great slalom coach Silvan Poberaj, this battle will not be one to miss.  In the past, Parsons has owned this battle.  However, Heyl beat Parons this year at the U.S. Team Trials for the very first time, taking the position as the first boat on the U.S. team.  Without a doubt, Parsons wants that position back. 

Carrie Johnson is unbelievable in the sprint kayak.  She has unnatural physical ability that is setting her apart.  She has grown up in San Diego, and is a current resident of the Arco Training Center.  In a sport that is extremely dominated by the European countries, Australia and Canada, Carrie has a chance to be the first U.S. paddler to medal in sprint since the great Greg Barton in 1992.

Benn Fraker is far younger than the other competitors in the men’s canoe.  During a year in which he is racing in junior events, he finished in the top 10 at a senior World Cup.  He is 17 years old and improving steadily.  He won the Junior Pre-World Championships in 2005, and finished fifth at the Junior World Championships in 2006.  Most athletes struggle to make the jump from the junior level to the senior level, but Fraker has already accomplished it, winning the U.S. Team Trials this year and being named the first boat on the Senior National Team.

Jeff Smoke continues to improve in the men’s K-1 1000 meters.  That is the sole event he is focused on, and has trained with some of the best in the world this year in preparation.  His mother was an Olympian, winning a bronze medal in the women’s kayak.  Smoke went to the Athens Games but had a disappointing performance.  After his first Olympic experience, he became a man on a mission, and this time around he wants nothing less than a medal.  In many people’s opinion, the K-1 1000 meters is the toughest sprint event of the entire Games.  Smoke has his work cut out for him but hopes to prove to be worthy of this calling.

The International Canoe Federation (ICF) has proposed that national federations will qualify Olympic places for their respective nations via a quota system based on results from the 2007 Slalom World Championships and their respective Continental Championships.  A maximum of one boat quota per each category (K1-Men, K1-Women, C1-Men and C2-Men) per nation is possible, according to the currently proposed system.

Athletes/boats can earn points towards eligibility for nomination to the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team in the discipline of Canoe/Kayak–Slalom by competing in up to three designated events.  Individual athletes/boats receive point scores based on their finish results for each of the three events and those with the best two out of three highest point scores from these events will be nominated to the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team according to available boat quotas.

The following three events constitute the complete range of possible opportunities for athletes/boats to earn points towards eligibility for nomination to the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team in the discipline of Canoe/Kayak – Slalom.

2007 Slalom World Championships/1^st Olympic Qualifier

        (September 19-23, 2007 – Foz do Iguasu, Brazil)

2008 USA Whitewater Slalom (USAWS) National Team Trials*

                (targeted for the Spring of 2008)

(1) Additional, yet to be determined 2008 international-level event*

(*Dates and locations for the above competitions will be posted on the USACK website at: www.usack.orgno later than 90 days prior to each event).

Overall Olympic Selection System Scoring: Individual USA athletes/boats will be ranked according to the greatest number of total points accumulated by adding together the two single highest point scores from the 2007 Slalom World Championships, the 2008 USAWS National Team Trials, and the (1) Additional, yet to be determined 2008 international-level event.

This ranking will determine the order in which boats will then be nominated for available places on the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team.  In the case of a tie, the boat with the higher placing final result from the 2008 USAWS National Team Trials will be ranked higher for Olympic Team consideration.

According to the proposed ICF Olympic Selection Criteria, any National Federation (NF) will have the right to enter athlete(s) that have qualified according to Boat Quota Places from one discipline in another event of the same discipline, even if that NF didn’t qualify a boat to the specific event(s). In the case where USACK does not obtain Boat Quota Places in all four 2008 Olympic Slalom events, athletes who have been selected to the Olympic Team may have the opportunity to compete in the events for which USA boats were not otherwise qualified. These athletes will be determined by USACK coaching staff at the time of the event.