Canada's Betteridge, Baldoni gearing up for 'exciting' Olympic debut of kayak cross

Paris is set to debut a thrilling addition to the Olympic programme.

As Canada's Lois Betteridge navigates her first experience at the Games, she gets the rare opportunity to take on a brand new event — kayak cross.

"Being a part of Team Canada is really cool," she said. "We're in quite a small sport, but to come here and be racing for Canada with 300+ other athletes, it's maybe a once-in-a-lifetime experience, hopefully not, but I don't think you can beat that."

After finishing 21st in the women's kayak slalom and 19th in the canoe slalom, the Ottawa native will become one of the first Olympians in kayak cross, also known as extreme kayak. She'll compete alongside Australian favourite Jessica Fox, who looks to complete the triple and win each of the canoe-kayak events.

Like its winter counterparts, ski and snowboard cross, four paddlers will be launched off a two-metre high ramp before making their way through an obstacle course of strategically placed up-and-down stream gates. Competitors will be permitted to hold off their opponents through incidental contact.

Paddlers must also complete a barrel roll at some point in the race before crossing the finish line.

"Kayak cross might be the most exciting addition to the Olympic program. We go down, and we're battling each other. The rules allow limited contact, but we're allowed to push quite hard against each other," Betteridge said. "You have to be careful not to hurt the other people; if you do that, you're ranked last."

Having made the semifinals of the sport at the Lima 2019 Pan Am Games, Betteridge — alongside Canadian teammate and Santiago 2023 Pan Am Games silver medallist Alex Baldoni — will hope to contend in the new Olympic event, with few athletes taking