Back To Paralympic Sports
Para-canoe made its first appearance at the Paralympic Games at the 2016 Rio Games.
Para-canoe is open to athletes with a physical impairment and races are contested by two types of boat, kayak (K) and va’a (V). Races are individual events and are over a distance of 200 metres.
For more information on Para-Canoe Eligibility and How to Get Involved please see the Para-canoe Information Sheet (PDF – 85KB) – updated August 2021.
Para-canoe is open to athletes with a physical impairment. Athletes are required to submit medical reports and meet the minimum impairment criteria in order to compete. Eligibility is determined by trained Classifiers.
For more information on Eligible Impairments and Classification please see the Para-canoe Information Sheet (PDF – 85KB) – updated August 2021.
| Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze | total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 2016 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
We encourage those wishing to explore Para-canoe to contact their state federation in the first instance. The national federation link below provides information on the national high performance program leading to competing internationally and at the Paralympic Games.
| National Federation | ||
| Organisation | Website | |
| Paddle Australia | paddle.org.au | |
| State Federations | ||
| State | Organisation | Website |
| NSW | Paddle NSW | paddlensw.org.au |
| QLD | Paddle QLD | qld.paddle.org.au |
| SA | Paddle SA | sa.paddle.org.au |
| TAS | Paddle TAS | tas.paddle.org.au |
| VIC | Paddle VIC | vic.paddle.org.au |
| WA | Paddle WA | paddlewa.asn.au |
