Welcome to Day 2 of the 2020 Olympics! At least, I think it is day 2. My body is physically on US but mentally on Tokyo time, so I’m not quite sure anymore. If I still remember my name by the end of the Games, I’ll be doing well.
Today we’ll be looking at the remaining ‘water sports’ – by which I mean the events happening on the water rather than in it – canoeing, surfing and sailing.
Canoeing
Canoeing at the Olympics comprises two main disciplines – sprint events and slalom event – with each having two categories in it – canoe and kayak.
The nation of Slovakia has an outstanding record at the Games and expect them to be strong in both disciplines, especially the Mens C1 slalom. Also look out for Jessica Fox of Australia, who could medal in slalom in both canoe and kayak. Fox – whose parents were both internationals in the sport themselves, albeit for Great Britain and France – has silver and bronze from previous Games and would love to complete the set.
In the sprint events look for the German men to perform well and, on the women’s side, look for Lisa Carrington of New Zealand to potentially top the podium in more than one event.
Surfing
Surfing makes its debut at these Games and has one of the more unusual schedules in the Olympics. Because the event takes place on the ocean and not in a man-made pool, it is hugely reliant on wave conditions and therefore has been granted a flexible schedule of when to happen to allow for the best possible conditions.
Internationally, the event is dominated by two countries – the USA and Brazil, so expect both to be in the battle for medals here.
Sailing
Great Britain, perhaps unsurprisingly for an island nation, tops the all-time medal table in Sailing and will no doubt have realistic medal chances in a number of events, including defending champions from Rio, Giles Scott (in the Finn class) and Hannah Mills (470, although alongside a new partner in these Games). However, the form team for these Games appears to be the Netherlands, who harbour several strong Gold medal chances.
These include being the favourites at both windsurfing events which, confusingly (for me at least), are sailing events rather than surfing events. Anyway, ignore my confusion and focus on the events, which could both be a dust up between near neighbours Netherlands and France.
Ian's World Of Sports 