New Zealand canoeists qualified four boats in each of the following distances for the Games through the 2019 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Szeged, Hungary and the 2020 Oceania Championships in Penrith, New South Wales. Max Brown and Kurtis Imrie were officially named to the New Zealand canoe sprint roster for the Games on 21 April 2021, with the women's kayak squad, led by two-time defending Lisa Carrington, joining them two months later.