Why Oklahoma City should embrace canoe slalom ahead of 2028 Olympics

Canoe slalom, which encompasses six Olympic events , will be contested throughout the week in Paris.

Tune in, and you might even see a familiar face or eight in the crowd.

Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt and a local contingent that includes city staffers, chamber members and a representative from the Oklahoma City Police Department will arrive in Paris on Wednesday to see what Olympic canoeing and kayaking is all about.

Because in four years, it’s our turn to host.

Canoe slalom, along with softball, is coming to Oklahoma City as part of the 2028 Summer Olympics. Oklahoma City will be a satellite host of the Los Angeles games — the Fiji of these Paris games.

“I think it would be a missed opportunity for our community if we didn’t have at least a few people who have actually seen what this really looks like in person,” Holt told The Oklahoman ahead of his trip.

We all know OKC is the softball capital of the world , but Oklahoma City has become a mecca for paddlesports since 2016, when Riversports’ whitewater rapids center opened. The $45.2 million facility was built as part of MAPS 3.

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Earlier this year, Riversport hosted the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for canoe slalom.

“Obviously the Olympics, especially for a sport like this, is the epitome,” Holt said. “It’s the peak. Where these events are staged around the world instantly becomes an important location for the entire sport. We already were, I think, a premier location. But now we’re going to be, forever and ever, a place canoe slalom was staged in the Olympics.”

Time to study up.

If the extent of your paddlesport knowledge is getting fried, in more ways than one, floating the Illinois River, now is the chance to expand your knowledge of river sports ahead of 2028. And what better way to do that than watch this week?

That’s why Holt and Co. are in Paris. Why I’ll be tuning in from home. Why you might want to do the same.

If we’re going to host an Olympic event in 2028, let’s embrace the show. Make the athletes who are missing out on the LA experience feel the love in middle America.

“This should feel like a festival across all of Oklahoma City,” Holt said. “This should feel like something we’re all a part of and you can’t escape the energy of it no matter where you are, at least in the central part of the city.”

Holt and the city have quietly been building a relationship with the canoe/kayak world for years.

Holt regularly chats with Thomas Konietzko, president of the International Canoe Federation. What a beautifully bizarre relationship, how the mayor of Oklahoma City and a German paddling extraordinaire linked up.

More: Inside Vernon Turner's journey to Paris Olympics, mission to represent Oklahoma

Holt and Konietzko are staying at the same hotel in Paris. The Oklahoma City coalition and canoeing federation are tight.

In Paris, Holt and his group will be observing everything around the canoe slalom events, from security, to signage to how stands are set up for spectators.

“Nobody’s expecting Oklahoma City to run the timing and scoring of the event, but it’s everything around it,” Holt said. “From a security perspective, from a fan experience perspective, from a transportation perspective — I think we’ll be observing all of those things.

“It’s really important that somebody be there, be able to speak to that for the next four years. In an ideal world we’d have 100 people there, but that’s just too expensive.”

Because softball isn’t a part of the Paris games, Holt and his crew can be hyper focused on canoe slalom.

Canoe slalom is an overarching term that includes six competitions: Women’s kayak single, men’s kayak single, women’s canoe single, men’s canoe single, women’s kayak cross and men’s kayak cross.

Canoe slalom was first introduced at the Olympics in 1972 and has been a permanent fixture at the games since 1992.

The difference in canoe and kayak?

In a canoe, the paddler kneels and uses a single-bladed paddle. In a kayak, the paddler sits and uses a double-bladed paddle.

Kayak cross, making its Olympics debut in Paris, is where things get crazy.

Rather than an individual racing against the clock, four riders race against one another.

The riders are simultaneously dropped off a ramp into the water. Then it's anarchy as they navigate obstacles and one another in a sprint to the finish.

Kayak cross is a contact sport. Now that’s something Oklahomans can get behind.

Four years from now, we can watch it in our own backyard, hard by the banks of the Oklahoma River.

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Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com . Support Joe's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com .

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Why Oklahoma City should embrace canoe slalom ahead of 2028 Olympics