The selection trials for the U.S. national team in whitewater slalom took place last week at Charlotte, North Carolina. The team is now set for competition in the 2021 World Cup series.
It is also now known who will represent the U.S. in women's kayak and women's canoe at the Olympic Games in Tokyo this summer. In both classes it'll be 17-year-old Evy Leibfarth of Bryson City, North Carolina. The photo above, shot by Wayne Meverden, shows a 10-year-old Evy racing at Wausau, Wisconsin, in 2014. At that time she was showing all the signs of a child prodigy. When she reached age 15--the minimum age to compete internationally at the senior level--in 2019, she immediately began winning medals in World Cup competition.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Olympians in men's kayak and men's canoe are yet to be determined, as no athlete has a decisive lead in the points system that the U.S. uses for selection. These Olympic team spots will be settled at the World Cup event at Prague in June.
As for flatwater sprint racing, my understanding is that the U.S. will have one athlete in the regatta at Tokyo: 18-year-old Nevin Harrison of Gig Harbor, Washington. Harrison is the reigning world champion in women's 200-meter single canoe.
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