Contact kayaking? New Olympic event includes 15-foot drop, Eskimo moves and bumper-car like contact

VAIRES-SUR-MARNE, France — Kayak cross is a new, wild Olympic sport. Boats drop into the water from a 15-foot-high platform to start the race as three other paddlers work furiously to gain traction. The boats can ram into each other in bumper-car-like fashion at any time. There are gates to navigate and competitors must go completely underwater to execute a 360-degree Eskimo roll before reaching the end. The finals are Monday and the competition has shown that anything can happen in the most unpredictable of canoe/kayak races.

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