Canoeing at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification
This article details the canoeing at the 2020 Summer Olympics qualifying phase. Similar to 2012 and 2016 format, a qualification system has been set up for both slalom and sprint canoeing at these games. The quotas have already been set for each event by the International Canoe Federation in October 2018. Slalom. For the slalom events, the men and women competed for each in C-1 and K-1. Qualifications were allocated to NOCs, not to specific competitors. NOCs were limited to one boat per event. Qualification spots were earned as follows: Sprint. NOCs are  limited to one boat per event, and in kayaking to six men and six women positions. In Canoeing, the maximum is three men and three women. Meaning a country can enter up to 18 athletes overall. Qualification enables an NOC to participate, not necessarily in the person of the paddler who gained the place. Quotas given are for boats. Qualification spots were earned as follows: Qualification table. The following boats and athletes qualified. In the men's kayak category, Spain had qualifying boats in the K-4 500m, K-2 1000m, and K-1 200m; because each NOC could earn  a maximum of 6 athlete spots, the K-1 200m athlete quota spot was reallocated to Sweden. Hungary qualified boats in the K-4, K-2, and K-1 1000m, requiring reallocation of the K-1 1000m place. Josef Dostál of the Czech Republic qualified in the K-1 1000m and was also a part of a qualifying K-2 1000m boat. The athlete quota spot from the K-1 was reallocated. The two spots went to the next best in K-1 1000m, but could not be allocated to France (Étienne Hubert was France's K-1 1000m athlete, but had already  earned a spot in K-2) or to Spain (which already had 6 athlete quotas), so went to Belarus and Argentina as the first two possible recipients. Japan earned a team spot in the K-4, so its host spot in the K-1 1000m also head to be reallocated; it could not go to Australia (which had 6 places already), so 11th-placed Serbia qualified. In the men's canoe category, Isaquias Queiroz of Brazil qualified in both the C-1 and C-2 events; his C-1 athlete quota spot was reallocated. This spot went to the next-best NOC in C-2, the  Czech Republic, as it could fill the C-2 boat because one the two athletes (Martin Fuksa) had already earned an athlete quota spot in C-1 and only 1 spot was needed to fill the boat. In the women's kayak category, numerous quota spots were reallocated, in a two-step process. The first step was that athletes who qualified in both K-1 events were assigned the 500m place and the 200m place was reallocated to the next boat in the 200m. Lisa Carrington of New Zealand and Emma Jørgensen fit that criterion; they were treated as qualifying  in the 500m and their 200m spots reallocated to Hungary and Serbia. Because the Serbia spot would have gone to Milica Starović, who (like Carrington and Jørgensen) had qualified in the 500m, that spot was further reallocated to Portugal. The second step in women's kayak was for athletes qualifying in multiple boat sizes. Volha Khudzenka of Belarus was part of the K-4, K-2, and K-1 500m boats that qualified, requiring reallocation of her K-2 and K-1 quota places. Maryna Litvinchuk was also in both the K-4 and K-2 boats for Belarus, so her K-2 quota  place had to reallocated. Karolina Naja and Anna Puławska were in Poland's K-4 and K-2 boats; both of their quota places from the K-2 were reallocated. The same was true of Sarah Guyot and Manon Hostens of France and Mariya Povkh of Ukraine. Mariia Kichasova-Skoryk, also of Ukraine, qualified in both the K-4 boat and the K-1 200m; her K-1 spot was reallocated. Finally, Carrington was part of New Zealand's K-4 boat, so her K-1 500m spot was reallocated. These 10 spots were allocated to fill K-4 boats (ROC received 4 and Denmark netted 3 , adding to Jørgensen's K-1 500m spot). The remaining 3 places were not enough to qualify Great Britain in the K-4, so the next step was allocating them to the K-2. The 3 remaining spots then went first to China in the K-2. This left 1 spot; Austria was next in the K-2 but neither athlete was qualified yet, so the spot would not fill the boat and therefore went to the K-1 500m. Sweden got the quota as next NOC in the K-1 500m. In the women's canoe, Maria Mailliard of Chile qualified in both  the C-2 and the C-1; her quota place was reallocated. The 1 reallocated spot was not enough to fill a C-2 boat (Japan did not have a qualifier in C-1), so went to the next C-1 competitor: Poland.