Kanupark Markkleeberg, built in 2006, is the second of two

artificial whitewater An artificial whitewater course (AWWC) is a site for whitewater canoeing, whitewater kayaking, whitewater racing, whitewater rafting, playboating and slalom canoeing with artificially generated rapids. Course types Main types of course: ...

canoe/kayak slalom courses in Germany, and the only one powered by pumps. The other German course is the

Eiskanal The ''Augsburg Eiskanal'' is an artificial whitewater river in Augsburg, Germany, constructed as the canoe slalom venue for the 1972 Summer Olympics in nearby Munich. The first artificial whitewater course of its kind, it introduced the sport of ...

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ...

, used in the

1972 Summer Olympic Games The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

. Kanupark Markkleeberg is located on the southeast shore of

Markkleeberger See Markkleeberger See is a lake in Saxony, Germany, next to Markkleeberg, a suburb on the south side of Leipzig. At an elevation of 112.5 m, its surface area is 2.52 km². It is a former open-pit coal mine, flooded in 1999 with groundwater and ...

, a lake south of

Markkleeberg Markkleeberg is an affluent suburb of Leipzig (district), Leipzig, located in the Leipzig (district), Leipzig district of the Saxony, Free State of Saxony, Germany. The river Pleiße runs through the city, which borders Leipzig to the north and t ...

, a suburb on the south side of

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

. A former open-pit coal mine, the lake was flooded in 1999 with groundwater and developed as a water recreation area. The lake is part of the Leipziger Neuseenland, the largest landscape construction project in Europe, which is reclaiming formerly barren industrial and mining sites for recreational use. The whitewater park was planned as part of Leipzig's bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympics, which were ultimately awarded to London. It was completed in time to serve as a training facility for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. With movable plastic bollards serving as water diversion features, it was possible to rig the competition course to be a close duplicate of the one at Beijing's

Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park The Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park () was built for the rowing, canoeing and 10 km open-water swimming events in the 2008 Summer Olympics. It is located in Mapo Village in the Shunyi District in Beijing. The first competitions at the venue ...

. Since formally opening in April 2007, the state-of-the-art Kanupark has hosted a full schedule of regional and international competitions. In 2010 it hosted the Junior and Under-23 European Championships. Kanupark Markkleeberg has two courses which loop in opposite directions from the pump house. Each loop has its own conveyor-belt boat lift. The north loop is a training course long, with a drop, a 1.4% slope of 13.8 m/km (73 ft/mile), and a streamflow of 4 to 14 m³/s (141 to 494 ft³/s). The south loop is the competition course with a length of , a drop, and a 2.1% slope of 21.1 m/km (111 ft/mile). With a streamflow of 4 to 18 m³/s (141 to 636 ft³/s), it generates class III-IV whitewater.
Venues, International Canoe Federation

References

External links

Website Kanupark Markkleeberg

Panoramic view

Kayak slalom video 1

Kayak slalom video 2

Kayaking Checklist
{{commons category, Kanupark Markkleeberg Artificial whitewater courses Markkleeberg Sports venues in Saxony