Ondrej Cibak Whitewater Slalom Course

Ondrej Cibak Whitewater Slalom Course
Areál vodného slalomu Ondreja Cibáka
About
Locale	Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovakia
Managing agent	Tatra Canoe Club
Designer	Ondrej Cibák
Main shape	Y-shaped
Adjustable	No
Water source	Váh River
Pumped	No
Flow diversion	Yes
Practice pool	Yes
Grandstands	Covered Stadium
Canoe lift	No
Facilities	Yes
Construction	2002 North (Orava) reconstruction 2004 South (Váh) reconstruction 2012 Stadium
Opening date	1978
Stats
Length	North (Orava): 300 metres (984 ft) South (Váh): 335 metres (1,099 ft)
Drop	7.5 metres (25 ft)
Slope	North (Orava): 2.5% (132 ft/mi) South (Váh): 2.2% (118 ft/mi)
Flowrate	15 m3/s (530 cu ft/s)
	Tatra Canoe Club

49°04′25″N 19°37′08″E / 49.0735°N 19.619°E / 49.0735; 19.619

The Ondrej Cibak Whitewater Slalom Course, in Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovakia, is the world's second-oldest artificial whitewater venue for international canoe slalom competition, after the Augsburg Eiskanal. Built in 1978, it diverts water around a small dam on the Váh river. With recent upgrades, including a covered stadium for spectators, it remains a prime site for the sport.^[1]

As a training facility, it is home course for canoe slalom's most highly decorated athlete, Michal Martikán, who has five Olympic medals, two of them gold, and for Elena Kaliská, who also has two Olympic golds. Both athletes have won numerous World and European Championships.^[2]

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.^[1]

It was the site for the 2013 Junior and U23 World Championships, held on 17-21 July.^[3]

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.