Kinematic Analysis of Canoe Stroke and its Changes During Different Types of Paddling Pace – Case Study

The aim of the study was to describe and evaluate movements of an elite canoeist when different paddling paces are applied. One of the tasks consisted of finding differences in time-space characteristics of selected markers in the referencing system canoeist’s body - canoe. 3D kinematic analysis was used for identification and comparison of selected parameters. The study confirmed that an elite canoeist has a high level of movement similarity in all types of stroke rates; differences were mainly found in time sequence of applied strokes. To evaluate properly the racing stroke rate, start, flying start, 200m pace, 500m pace, and 1000m pace were chosen. One of the evaluated parameters was the boat velocity that was 2.1–4.5 ms(−1) at start, 3.2–5.2 ms(−1) at flying start, 3.9–6.1 ms(−1) at 200m pace, 3.9–5.9 ms(−1) at 500m pace and 3.0–5.4 ms(−1) at 1000m pace. Vertical change of the position of the right hand was 0.77 m at start, 0.73 m at flying start, 0.87 at 200m pace, 0.89 at 500m pace and 0.81 m at 1000m pace.