Slalom History

The excitement of the Canoe/Kayak Slalom Racing

Canoe slalom is one of the six technical disciplines of the International Canoe Federation. The actual history of slalom on Whitewater started on September 11th, 1932 in Switzerland, where the inventor of this discipline proclaimed "Slalom is a Whitewater test." The idea came from skiing, where terms like "Winter, snow and ski slalom" modified into "Summer, water and Canoe slalom".
In spite of that the origins of slalom were on Flatwater. But very soon it switched to Whitewater, to rapids of natural rivers and streams, and that’s exactly what Slalom paddlers still love today.

The past and future

Unfortunately World War Two began only six years after the first slalom competition in Switzerland and due to this fact the development of slalom was set back compared to Flatwater Racing, especially from an Olympic point of view. This unequal situation lasted for many years, but today it is possible to say, that both Olympic disciplines of the ICF are treated equally.

The first World Championships under the patronage of the ICF in Canoe Slalom were organized in 1949 in Geneva / Switzerland.

What makes Whitewater Slalom so exciting? It is probably the image of a man or a woman struggling with powerful roaring waters, eddies, swirls, stoppers, etc. In brief it is just struggling against pure nature. Due to this fact Canoe Slalom brings spectators close to the river, but it is also able to trap them in front of the TV- screen.

Closeness to nature brings other dimension into this sport: fantastic friendship, lots of good feelings, cooperation between different national teams, sense for help, etc. Findable in all communities that move around this specific circle of canoeists. And it is necessary to keep one other thing in mind: Whitewater sports and especially slalom play an important role in protecting nature and in protecting our environment, which today is a very specific global problem.

The first World Championships in Slalom under the ICF were organized in 1949 in Geneva, Switzerland. From this date on it is possible to divide the Slalom history into three periods: From 1949-1972, from 1972-1992 and from 1992.

The first period is characterized by dramatic changes. Folding and rigid canvas canoes were replaced by fiberglass reinforced plastic boats at championship events.

The second important period was filled with changing and simplifying slalom rules as well as with dreams and hopes of slalom becoming an Olympic sport again. This time too, brought dramatic changes in boat construction in the C2 the position of the crew went into the middle and the C1 width was changed to 70 cm. And thus today for a non-slalom paddler it is difficult to know whether he is looking at a single kayak or a Canoe(Canadian).

The third period started with the reintroduction of Canoe Slalom at the Olympic Games in 1992. Nobody can forget that fantastic atmosphere under the hot burning sun during the Olympic event in La Seu d´Urgell. It was a great start into this new period, a start for slalom to be an Olympic sport with its all known advantage but also with disadvantage.

And also this period brought new changes to the slalom rules: the penalty and the two run system was changed. It is also a time of massive increase of interest for slalom outside its traditional surroundings of Europe and North America to all other continents. In the future, it is hope that slalom racing is going to be a permanent Olympic Game.

Slalom in Lebanon

Slalom is the most practiced discipline in Lebanon. Slalom can be practiced in more then one river in Lebanon, the Assi river, the Awali river , the Litani river and the Al Kalb river, are all ideal for the Slalom racing.

With hundreds of athletes all over Lebanon, the LCKF intends to launch a national training program to develop the skills of these lebanese paddlers in order to be stongly present in the regional and international competitions and calls on lebanese paddlers not registered in clubs to contact the Lebanese Canoe Kayak Federation to be included in this program.

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