Women's C-2 500 metres at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Canoeing pictogram
Venue	Sea Forest Waterway
Dates	6 August 2021 (heats and quarterfinal) 7 August 2021 (semifinal & final)
Competitors	28 (14 boats) from 14 nations
Winning time	1:55.495
Medalists
Xu Shixiao Sun Mengya  China Liudmyla Luzan Anastasiia Chetverikova  Ukraine Laurence Vincent Lapointe Katie Vincent  Canada
2024 →

The women's C-2 500 metres sprint canoeing event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 6 and 7 August 2021 at the Sea Forest Waterway.^[1] 26 canoeists (13 boats of 2) from 13 nations competed.^[2]

This was the debut appearance of the event, replacing the men's K-2 200 metres as the Olympics moved towards gender equality.^[3]

The reigning World Champions were Sun Mengya and Xu Shixiao of China.

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter only 1 qualified boat (2 canoeists) in the event. A total of 13 qualification places were available, initially allocated as follows:

• 8 places awarded through the 2019 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships
• 5 places awarded through continental tournaments, 1 per continent

Qualifying places were awarded to the NOC, not to the individual canoeists who earned the place.^[2]

The Americas continental tournament was cancelled; that place was allocated through the World Championships, with the place going to Japan.^[4] The Africa place was reallocated as well, with Europe receiving a second spot.

Sprint canoeing uses a four-round format for events with at least 11 boats, with heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals. For a 13-boat event, the rounds are as follows:^[5]

• Heats: Two heats of 6 and 7 boats each. The top 2 boats in each heat (4 boats total) advance directly to the semifinals, with all others (9 boats) going to the quarterfinals.
• Quarterfinals: Two heats of 4 and 5 boats each. The top 3 boats in each heat (6 boats total) advance to the semifinals, with the remaining 3 boats out of medal contention and competing in the consolation Final B.
• Semifinals: Two heats of 5 boats each. The top 4 boats in each heat (8 boats total) advance to the medal Final A, with the remaining 2 boats out of medal contention and competing in consolation Final B.
• Finals: Final A consists of the top 8 boats, awarding the medals as well as 4th through 8th place. Final B features the remaining 5 boats, awarding 9th through 13th places.

The course is a flatwater course 9 metres wide. The name of the event describes the particular format within sprint canoeing. The "C" format means a canoe, with the canoeist kneeling and using a single-bladed paddle to paddle and steer (as opposed to a kayak, with a seated canoeist, double-bladed paddle, and foot-operated rudder). The "2" is the number of canoeists in each boat. The "500 metres" is the distance of each race.^[6]

The event was held over two consecutive days, with two rounds per day. All sessions started at 9:30 a.m. local time, though there are multiple events with races in each session.^[7]

Progression System: 1st-2nd to SF, rest to QF.

Heat 1 [edit] Rank Lane Canoer Country Time Notes 1 6 Xu Shixiao Sun Mengya  China 1:57.870 OB, SF 2 5 Lisa Jahn Sophie Koch  Germany 2:01.184 SF 3 1 Laurence Vincent Lapointe Katie Vincent  Canada 2:02.170 QF 4 3 Dilnoza Rakhmatova Nilufar Zokirova  Uzbekistan 2:04.854 QF 5 1 Irina Andreeva Olesia Romasenko  ROC 2:05.604 QF 6 4 Karen Roco María Mailliard  Chile 2:09.820 QF 7 7 Bernadette Wallace Josephine Bulmer  Australia 2:11.322 QF

Heat 2 [edit] Rank Lane Canoer Country Time Notes 1 3 Liudmyla Luzan Anastasiia Chetverikova  Ukraine 2:01.156 SF 2 4 Virág Balla Kincső Takács  Hungary 2:02.344 SF 3 5 Yarisleidis Cirilo Duboys Katherin Nuevo Segura  Cuba 2:03.229 QF 4 7 Daniela Cociu Maria Olărașu  Moldova 2:06.070 QF 5 1 Svetlana Ussova Margarita Torlopova  Kazakhstan 2:09.024 QF 6 6 Daryna Pikuleva Nadzeya Makarchanka  Belarus 2:09.799 QF 7 2 Manaka Kubota Teruko Kiriake  Japan 2:16.791 QF

Progression System: 1st-3rd to SF, rest to Final B.

Quarterfinal 1 [edit] Rank Lane Canoer Country Time Notes 1 5 Laurence Vincent Lapointe Katie Vincent  Canada 2:02.259 SF 2 4 Daniela Cociu Maria Olărașu  Moldova 2:03.434 SF 3 2 Daryna Pikuleva Nadzeya Makarchanka  Belarus 2:04.951 SF 4 3 Svetlana Ussova Margarita Torlopova  Kazakhstan 2:06.179 FB 5 6 Bernadette Wallace Josephine Bulmer  Australia 2:11.180 FB

Quarterfinal 2 [edit] Rank Lane Canoer Country Time Notes 1 5 Yarisleidis Cirilo Duboys Katherin Nuevo Segura  Cuba 2:03.282 SF 2 4 Dilnoza Rakhmatova Nilufar Zokirova  Uzbekistan 2:04.450 SF 3 3 Irina Andreeva Olesia Romasenko  ROC 2:04.703 SF 4 6 Karen Roco María Mailliard  Chile 2:04.969 FB 5 2 Manaka Kubota Teruko Kiriake  Japan 2:08.849 FB

Progression System: 1st-4th to Final A, rest to Final B.

Semifinal 1 [edit] Rank Lane Canoer Country Time Notes 1 4 Xu Shixiao Sun Mengya  China 2:01.369 FA 2 3 Yarisleidis Cirilo Duboys Katherin Nuevo Segura  Cuba 2:03.655 FA 3 5 Virág Balla Kincső Takács  Hungary 2:04.545 FA 4 6 Daniela Cociu Maria Olărașu  Moldova 2:05.910 FA 5 2 Daryna Pikuleva Nadzeya Makarchanka  Belarus 2:07.205 FB

Semifinal 2 [edit] Rank Lane Canoer Country Time Notes 1 4 Liudmyla Luzan Anastasiia Chetverikova  Ukraine 2:02.893 FA 2 3 Laurence Vincent Lapointe Katie Vincent  Canada 2:04.316 FA 3 5 Lisa Jahn Sophie Koch  Germany 2:04.749 FA 4 2 Irina Andreeva Olesia Romasenko  ROC 2:04.968 FA 5 6 Dilnoza Rakhmatova Nilufar Zokirova  Uzbekistan 2:09.614 FB

Final A [edit] Rank Lane Canoer Country Time Notes 5 Xu Shixiao Sun Mengya  China 1:55.495 OB 4 Liudmyla Luzan Anastasiia Chetverikova  Ukraine 1:57.499 6 Laurence Vincent Lapointe Katie Vincent  Canada 1:59.041 4 2 Lisa Jahn Sophie Koch  Germany 1:59.943 5 7 Virág Balla Kincső Takács  Hungary 2:00.289 6 3 Yarisleidis Cirilo Duboys Katherin Nuevo Segura  Cuba 2:01.623 7 1 Daniela Cociu Maria Olărașu  Moldova 2:01.750 8 8 Irina Andreeva Olesia Romasenko  ROC 2:04.875

Final B [edit] Rank Lane Canoer Country Time Notes 9 3 Karen Roco María Mailliard  Chile 2:02.698 10 5 Daryna Pikuleva Nadzeya Makarchanka  Belarus 2:04.351 11 4 Dilnoza Rakhmatova Nilufar Zokirova  Uzbekistan 2:04.658 12 6 Svetlana Ussova Margarita Torlopova  Kazakhstan 2:04.859 13 2 Bernadette Wallace Josephine Bulmer  Australia 2:05.698 14 7 Manaka Kubota Teruko Kiriake  Japan 2:06.196