Sprint racing is like track and field racing on the water.
In slalom, paddlers negotiate a 25 gate course suspended over stretches of whitewater rapids 300 to 600 meter long. In non-Olympic years, there are numerous national and international competitions, including U.S. Team Trials and U.S. National Championship events. The discipline of whitewater slalom made only its third appearance in the Olympic Games in 1996. It first appeared on the Olympic program in 1972 in Munich. American Jamie McEwan won the first-ever U.S. slalom medal in men's single canoe when he claimed the bronze.