Canoeing 200m
At international regattas in canoeing there is three distances on the program. 200m, 500m and 1000m. Men and Women can all participate in these disciplines in both K1, C1, K2, C2, K4, C4 but with that exception that women can only participate in the kayak events.
The same disciplines appears at the European Championships and World Championship, which each is divided in two separate regattas, the Junior/U18 and the Senior/18+. Juniors/U18 does not have 200m in any boat type.
In each event there are 9 lanes and competitors. There are determined special rules about the wide of the lanes. Each lane should be 9 meters wide and a competitor can be disqualified if he is within 5 meters to another competitor because he or she then can get some benefit of "surfing" the others wash.
The 200m event is the shortest at Flatwater Racing World Championships competitions, and the winner of this event is regarded as the fastest paddler. It is important to be very fast in the start because if you get a bad first stroke then it is difficult to win the race.
It is common not to compete in more than one distance, but some athletes do. Usually they compete in 200m and 500m or 500m and 1000m.
The 200m event was added to the Olympic schedule for men (K1, K2 & C1) and women (K1 only) at the London 2012 Olympics, while the Men's 500m K1, K2, C1 and C2 were dropped.