New to the family of paddle sports is Kayak Cross. It is the latest official Olympic discipline of the International Canoe Federation. It was introduced into the Olympic Program at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
The Kayak Cross competition has an individual time trial phase and an elimination phase of multiple rounds. In the elimination phase, the participants start in groups of 4, the best 2 of each round will go through to the next round. The RaceGorilla software enable the Kayak Cross score format and the progression of paddlers to go to the next rounds.
At the start of the kayak cross, the paddlers start from a ramp.
The course to be navigated has 8 gates, 2 of which are a pair of upstream gates. The gates can be touched, but the whole head has to go “around” the pole. Missing a gate results in a fault. During the elimination phase, a penalty Rank As Last (RAL) can be given for dangerous behaviour to other paddlers.
In the elimination phase the coloured bibs (Red, Blue, Green, Yellow), are worn to easily identify the paddlers.
Results of the individual time trial
In this results list example, the top 10 of the individual time trial is shown. The top 3 of the paddlers are “clear”. This means they do not have any penalties. They are ranked according to their end time. Places 4 to 7 have 1 fault on the course. They are ranked to the furthest clear navigation of the course, and then (as can be seen for position 6 and ) according to their end-time.
Numbers 9 and 10 both have 2 faults and are ranked to the furthest clear navigation and time as well.
Judge kayak Cross in the app
In the RaceGorilla app, the time trial can be judged by choosing a section to judge in the competition menu. As soon as the participant is on course, he or she will be displayed. All participants are CLR by default, FLT or RAL can be chosen for any of the gates. The score has to be validated to be stored on the server. If a participant abandons the boat or course, a DNF can be given by the gate judge.
