The Tacen Whitewater Course is a venue for canoe and kayak slalom competition in Tacen,

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

, a suburb of

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

. Located on the

Sava The Sava, is a river in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. From its source in Slovenia it flows through Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally reac ...

River, eight kilometers northwest of the city center, it is known locally as Kayak Canoe Club Tacen (). The course played an important role in development of the sport during the past six decades. In 1939, when its first competition was held, it was a natural rapid at the base of a dam in the

Sava River The Sava, is a river in Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. From its source in Slovenia it flows through Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally reaches Serbia, fee ...

. In 1990, after many upgrades, it was given a concrete channel and the features of a modern Olympic-style slalom course. The course now starts in the lake behind the dam, and the spillway is the first drop. Tacen hosts a major international competition almost every year, examples being the 1955, the

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

, and the

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Championships. Tacen Whitewater Course 1

Venue

The engineered part of the course is only 170 meters long. To increase its length to 275 meters, the course was extended upstream into the lake behind the dam and downstream into the natural flow of the Sava River. The upstream extension meant that each paddler had to begin the race with about an 8-second flatwater sprint and reach the top of the spillway at maximum speed. That plus the usual upstream gate at the bottom of the spillway make for a challenging start, unlike that of any other venue in the international competition circuit. The start was later moved closer to the spillway to remove the flatwater sprint.

2023 floods

The facility sustained major damage in the

floods A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

that occurred in early August of 2023. Much of the infrastructure was completely destroyed or washed away.

References

Videos

Kauzer Tacen World Cup 1 2011 finalK1 C1 C2 World Cup 1 2011 finalsMolmenti 2010 World ChampionshipMolmenti vs Kauzer - 2010 World ChampionshipThe Hochschorners vs Gargaud/Lefevre - 2010 World ChampionshipLefevre vs Aigner - 2010 World Championship heats2014 C-1 World Cup
{{coord, 46.1169, 14.4577, scale:2000, display=title Artificial whitewater courses Sports venues in Ljubljana Šmarna Gora District