For live results go to:
http://animastiming.com/2008-olympic-slalom-results

In January, the first World Series slalom race of 2008 was held in Penrith (NSW) Australia, at the site of the 2000 Olympic Games.
High-quality demonstration and foreruns were done by 2007 USACK Slalom Team members Scott Parsons, Ashley Nee and Caroline Queen.
The highest US finish went to Benn Fraker who placed 6th in the C1 Final, with a total of 210.15. Frenchman Tony Estanguet won the C1 class with a total of 202.32.
Zuzana Vanha made it to the K1W Final, to finish 9th with a total of 243.29. Violetta Oblinger-Peters was the top K1W in 221.70.
Other US finishes included K1s Brett Heyl (11th) and Scott Mann (14th); C1s Jeff Larimer (13th) and Erik Amason (18th); and K1W Jamie Tidmore (27th).

Over 30 athletes from around the world tested their skills in weekend competition December 14 and 15 at the US National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, NC. Paddlers from the US, Canada, Chile, Ireland, Great Britain, Switzerland and the Czech Republic raced in Grand Prix and Classic Slalom events on the challenging whitewater as part of their preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Friday evening was a Grand Prix race, with single-pole gates (no upstreams), and used only the lower half of the competition channel for a very fast and exciting event. Saturday was a classic slalom with a very tricky course. Both days' courses were designed by David Hepp.

September 23, 2007
Foz do Iguacu, Brazil

Ashley Nee today qualified a 2008 Olympic berth for US Women here at the 2007 Whitewater Slalom World Championships by virtue of her performance in the Semifinal round of the event.
First-year US National Team C2 pairs Rick Powell/Casey Eichfeld and Scott McCleskey/Austin Crane finished 21st and 23rd respectively, failing to qualify an Olympic berth for US athletes in this class.
Past champions Peter and Pavel Hochschorner (SVK) dominated the C2 field, winning over the French Luquet brothers and Italians Andrea Benetti/Erik Masoero.
The women's K1 event was won by Jennifer Bongardt (GER), recently featured in the German edition of Playboy magazine, with the silver medal awarded to Elena Kaliska (SVK) and the bronze to Stepanka Hilgertova (CZE).

Foz do Iguacu, Brazil
September 22, 2007

Scott Parsons today earned a Beijing Olympic Games spot for US Slalom Kayak Men with his performance at the 2007 World Championships. With two clean runs in Semifinal and Final competition, Parsons finished in 7th position overall and as 6th nation. Awarded a 50-second penalty in the Semifinal round, teammate Brett Heyl failed to move on to the 10-boat Final, finishing in 37th position overall.

Canoeist Benn Fraker demonstrated excellence with 4 of 4 clean runs and two 4th place finishes in the Qualification round and C1 Team event. Today that streak ended in the Semifinal round as Fraker's errors compounded to put him in 36th position overall. US C1s have yet to earn an Olympic berth for 2008.

September 21, 2007
Foz do Iguacu, Brazil

Semifinal competition begins tomorrow at the 2007 Slalom World Championships here in Brazil. United States team members Benn Fraker (C1), Scott Parsons and Brett Heyl (K1) will vie with other qualifying athletes in morning competition with the goal of being among the ten Finalists culled from 40 Semifinalists in each category.
Nations' berths will be determined from the Semifinals in the first round of qualification for Beijing's 2008 Olympic Games.
World Championship titles and medals will be determined by the best combined scores in Semifinal and Final competition in each category.

The 2007 Whitewater Slalom World Championships officially begin tonight with the Opening Ceremony, including speeches and a show of local cultural performance. Qualification races for C1 and K1 will be held on Wednesday, with 40 boats from each category progressing onto Saturday's Semifinal and Final races. C2 and K1W will race their Qualification on Thursday, followed by Semifinal and Final on Sunday. All categories will compete in Team events on Friday.

The official World Championships Organizing Committee website is http://cbca.org.br/foz2007/english/index.php

Live results can be found at www.123result.com

Foz do Iguacu, Brazil
Sunday, September 9, 2007

Athletes from around the world are gathering in this tri-nation area to prepare for this year's Slalom World Championships and Olympic Qualifier.

The Itaipu slalom channel is located within sight of the huge Itaipu Dam, within an easy drive of spectacular Iguacu Falls, and only a short distance from Brazil's frontier with both Paraguay and Argentina.

It is springtime in the southern hemisphere, with temperatures in the 90s during the day and 60s at night. Humidity is relatively low, and many days are breezy. A plethora of flowers and trees are in bloom, birds are building nests and we've seen many new bugs, animals and butterflies.

Complete results from the Beijing “Good Luck” Olympic Slalom Test event can be found at
http://www.canoe2007.org.cn/en/slalom/resultsform/index.html

August 18, 2007

American C2 team Scott McCleskey and Austin Crane narrowly missed qualifying for tomorrow’s Semifinal.

With 6 seconds in penalties on their first run, and a significant time error on their second, the team placed 11th overall. With only 1.93 seconds separating them from the 10th and qualifying spot, one error less would have spelled success for today.

Young athletes Ashley Nee and Caroline Queen were in the mix with the rest of the K1W class where spectacular moves, dramatic errors and incredible wipeouts thrilled the spectators. With too many penalties to progress on to Sunday’s Semifinal round, both Nee and Queen gained valuable experience and maintain their enthusiasm and motivation as they move forward toward September’s World Championships in Brazil.