This was the ninth appearance of the event, having previously appeared in every Summer Olympics with slalom canoeing: 1972 and 1992 to 2016.
Reigning Olympic champion Maialen Chourraut of Spain made her fourth Olympic appearance (she also took bronze in 2012), attempting to defend her title.[4]Reigning World ChampionEva Terčelj of Slovenia also competed as a medal hopeful.[5] She placed 13th in 2012.
A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter only 1 qualified canoeist in the women's slalom K-1 event. A total of 24 qualification places were available, allocated as follows:
Notes a The quota for the Americas was allocated to the NOC with the highest-ranked eligible athlete, due to the cancellation of the 2021 Pan American Championships.
Competition format
Slalom canoeing uses a three-round format, with heats, semifinal, and final. In the heats, each canoeist had two runs at the course with the better time counting. The top 24 advanced to the semifinal. In the semifinal, the canoeists get a single run; the top 10 advanced to the final. The best time in the single-run final wins gold.[8]
The canoe course was approximately 250 metres (820 ft) long, with up to 25 gates that the canoeist had to pass in the correct direction. Penalty time was added for infractions such as passing on the wrong side or touching a gate. Runs typically lasted approximately 95 seconds.[8]