ECA's Board of Directors held their
first meeting in the year 2021 this Saturday. Among other subjects on the
table, they confirmed the 2021 competition calendar. There were also some changes
in the European Championships programmes of Olympic disciplines.
One of the main items ECA's Board of
Directors discussed during their online meeting was the upcoming season 2021.
As the pandemic doesn't seem to slow down at the moment, they have decided the
deadlines will be set to finally confirm or cancel the ECA championships scheduled
for 2021 depending on the health situation and safety in respective countries,
like it was the case already last year. The deadlines will be set for European
Championships, while the decision on organisation of the ECA Cups will be at
organiser's discretion.
Similarly, Board of Directors decided
to give the final information on the 2021 ECA Congress in February. The
Congress was supposed to be organised in March, but considering the current
situation, the realisation of the congress in two months is highly unlikely, so
it is expected the Congress in Bratislava will be delayed.
Board of Directors also discussed new
competition programmes in Olympic disciplines, following the changes to the
Olympic Programme. As Extreme Canoe Slalom will be a part of the 2024 Olympic
Games, the discipline has now been added also to the programme of the European
Championships and will already be a part of the 2021 Canoe Slalom European Championships
in Ivrea and Solkan (Senior, Junior/U23). However, there will be minor changes
in competition rules, such as advancement from time trials to the main phase as
well as in setting of the course (eg. difference in number of the gates). In
Canoe Sprint the men's C4 events will be scratched from the programme already
this season.
ECA has been organising Talent
Identification Programmes for young European canoe slalom paddlers for many
years now in Skopje, North Macedonia. This year the training camp for young
athletes will not be held in Spring as usual, but in August a week before the
2021 Junior and U23 Canoe Slalom European Championships in Solkan, Slovenia.
Board of Directors unanimously supported the proposal to introduce the Talent
Identification Programme also for young canoe sprint athletes, but will put the
proposal to the open discussion at the next ECA congress to hear the feedback
from National Federations.
In the years 2022 and 2023 canoeing
will be a part of two major international sporting events. In the 2022
Multisport European Championships in Munich will include Canoe Sprint for the first
time and the good news comes for paracanoe athletes as paracanoeing has now
also been confirmed as part of the programme. In 2023 Krakow will host the
European Games and canoeing was one of the first confirmed sports. This time it
is Canoe Slalom that is confirmed, because Krakow already has a venue and with
only a year before Paris Olympic Games there is a chance Extreme Canoe Slalom
will also be included in the programme. At the moment Krakow does not have a
regatta course, but there is a strong wish on organiser's side to build one in
a length of 500 metres, so there is still hope Canoe Sprint will also be
included in the third European Games. The next online Board of Directors
meeting will take place on February 6th.
Detailed competition programme for
the season 2021 is available below.
www.canoe-europe.org
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@canoe.europe / Twitter: @CanoeEurope / Youtube: @CanoeEurope
#canoeeurope
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