Cook Islands

Canoeing: Australia Qualified in Men’s C1 After Oceania Slalom Championship

joshmartini007 , ,

Australia qualified a boat while Cook Islands benefited from the reallocation rule at the 2016 Oceania Canoe Slalom Championships. The highest ranked eligible nation will be given a spot to compete in the men’s K1, women’s K1 and men’s C1. While other nations were allowed to participate in the Oceania Championships only nations from the continent were eligible to qualify. The Oceania Canoe Slalom Championship was held in Penrith, Australia from January 19th to January 21st 2016.

One major rule to make a continental event legal is the fact that three eligible boats must compete. This was made impossible for the men’s K1 and women’s K1 to be eligible events since only four nations were allowed to compete at the Oceania championships (the same ones that competed at the 2015 World Championship) and Australia and New Zealand have already qualified. The reallocation process is that the highest ranked nation from that continent at the 2015 World Championships will be given a quota. This means the Cook Islands qualified in both the men’s K1 and women’s K1.

The only eligible event at this championship for Olympic qualification was the men’s C1. Australia would end up taking the spot by virtue of their semi-final appearance as both New Zealand and Fiji failed to reach that stage. Slovakia’s Matej Benus ended up winning gold at the event.

This was the final canoeing qualification event for Oceania. The remaining continents will have their qualification events over the coming weeks.

 

Quotas by Nations

  • Cook Islands – 2
  • Australia – 1

 

References

Canoeing: Oceania Qualifies After Sprint Qualifier

joshmartini007 , , , ,

Australia swept the Olympic events at the 2016 Oceania Sprint Canoeing Championship. The highest ranked eligible boat with the exception of the men’s K4 1000m and women’s K4 500m qualified to the Olympics. There are a lot of other exceptions in canoeing which we will get into below. The Oceania Championship was held in Adelaide, Australia from February 12th to February 14th 2016.

The first major rule is that for the event to be sanctioned at least three different nations must participate. This was met in all events except in the men’s K2 1000m. Since Australia already qualified to the event at the world championship that only left New Zealand and Cook Islands to attempt to qualify. The quota will be reallocated to the next best ranked nation at the 2015 World Championship, specifically Lithuania.

Another rule is that an athlete can only qualify one spot, though that was not a problem at this championship. A nation can also only qualify 1 type of boat (K1, K2, C1) where the shorter distance will be reallocated to the next eligible nation. Also a nation can only qualify two athlete quotas in the canoe events.

For the kayak events this is relatively simple; Australia has qualified a spot in the men’s K1 200m, men’s K2 200m, women’s K1 500m and women’s K2 500m, New Zealand has qualified in the men’s K1 1000m and Samoa qualified in the women’s K1 200m.

For the canoe events things become a bit tricky. Australia must choose between the men’s C1 1000m and C2 1000m. The event which they do not choose will go to New Zealand. The Cook Islands qualified in the men’s C1 200m.

To wrap up their continental qualifiers Oceania will have their slalom qualifier over the coming weeks. Other continents will continue to have their qualifiers as we approach the Olympics.

 

Quotas by Nations

  • Australia – 5
  • New Zealand – 2
  • Cook Islands – 1
  • Samoa – 1

 

References

Sailing: Reallocation Galore at Oceania Qualifiers

joshmartini007 , , , , , , , ,

Reallocation quotas were the big theme at the first leg of the 2015-16 Sailing World Cup. The event doubled as the Oceania continental qualification event. The top ranked eligible Oceania nation would qualify to the Olympics. The first leg of the Sailing World Cup was held in Melbourne, Australia from December 9th to December 13th 2015.

With New Zealand already qualified in all ten events, Australia qualified in nine events and the other Oceania nations not participating in most events there were no eligible nations for the quota to be given to. Funny enough the one event Australia was not qualified in ended up being cancelled. The reallocation process meant that the highest eligible nation at the 2015 World Championships for the event would qualify. This happened in eight out of the ten events. The reallocated quotas went to China (men’s 470), Croatia (men’s 49er), Italy (men’s finn), Norway (women’s 49erFX), Spain (women’s 470), Ukraine (men’s RS:X) and the United States (women’s RS:X and mixed nacra17). Also because China is now qualified through the 2015 Worlds in the men’s 470 its original continental quota has now been reallocated to South Korea.

The only quotas that went to Oceania nations were the men’s laser and women’s laser radial. However, only one eligible nation participated and by completing the event the Cook Islands are now qualified in the two events.

There was some expectation that this might happen when ISAF created continental qualifiers for this Olympics, but I think this was more about Australia’s and New Zealand’s performances at the 2014 and 2015 World Championships. It’s a shame that the men’s RS:X event was not held as it prevented Australia from entering a full fleet. This was the final opportunity for Oceania nations to qualify in any sailing events.

 

Boats by Nations

  • Cook Islands – 2
  • United States – 2
  • Croatia – 1
  • Italy – 1
  • Norway – 1
  • South Korea – 1
  • Spain – 1
  • Ukraine – 1

 

References