The Ondrej Cibak Whitewater Slalom Course, in

Liptovský Mikuláš Liptovský Mikuláš (; until 1952 ''Liptovský Svätý Mikuláš'', german: Liptau-Sankt-Nikolaus; hu, Liptószentmiklós) is a town in northern Slovakia, on the Váh River, about from Bratislava. It lies in the Liptov region, in Liptov Bas ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

, is the world's second-oldest

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: ...

venue for international

canoe slalom Canoe slalom (previously known as whitewater slalom) is a competitive sport with the aim to navigate a decked canoe or kayak through a course of hanging downstream or upstream gates on river rapids in the fastest time possible. It is one of th ...

competition, after the

Augsburg 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 ...

. Built in 1978, it diverts water around a small dam on the

Váh The Váh (; german: Waag, ; hu, Vág; pl, WagWag
w Słowniku geograficznym Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów ...

river. With recent upgrades, including a covered stadium for spectators, it remains a prime site for the sport. As a training facility, it is home course for canoe slalom's most highly decorated athlete,

Michal Martikán Michal Martikán (; born 18 May 1979) is a Slovak slalom canoeist who has been competing at the international level since 1994. In 1996 he became the first athlete to win an Olympic gold medal for Slovakia since the country gained independence i ...

, who has five Olympic medals, two of them gold, and for

Elena Kaliská Elena Kaliská (born 19 January 1972) is a retired Slovak slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 1988 to 2019. Competing in four Summer Olympics, she won two gold medals in the K1 event, earning them in 2004 and 2008. ...

, who also has two Olympic golds. Both athletes have won numerous World and European Championships. In addition to slalom practice, experienced paddlers can train in kayaks and canoes for running narrow creeks. For the general public, it operates as a family water park with guided raft trips.

Venue

Two parallel channels merge beyond the halfway point. The shorter, steeper branch, on the north side, called the Orava channel, makes a dramatic left turn and drop into the common channel. The water diverters are non-moveable boulders cemented into place. The 7.5 meter drop is the highest of any artificial whitewater course in the international competition circuit, giving Cibak the steepest overall slope, over 2% for both branches. The common channel and the south branch are rated as whitewater class II-III, with the north branch class III-IV. It was the site for the 2013 Junior and U23 World Championships, held on 17-21 July.Race Notice
''International Canoe Federation''. Retrieved 28 May, 2013 The gate maps for these races are shown below, upstream gates in red. All gates are 2-pole gates; numbers with arrows are flush gates navigated in the direction of the arrow.

Gallery

File:Andrew Cibák Whitewater Slalom Course North Branch Liptovský Mikuláš.jpg, North Branch. File:Andrew Cibák Whitewater Slalom Course South Branch Liptovský Mikuláš.jpg, South Branch. File:Andrew Cibák Whitewater Slalom Course Confluence Liptovský Mikuláš.jpg, Confluence of North and South Branches. File:Andrew Cibák Whitewater Slalom Course from Stadium Liptovský Mikuláš.jpg, Stadium seats. File:Andrew Cibák Whitewater Slalom Course Finish Line Liptovský Mikuláš.jpg, End of course.

References

{{Reflist Artificial whitewater courses