Joe Clarke's event was the Slalom K–1. This means kayak singles; K–2 means kayak pairs, and K–4 means kayak fours. Similarly, C–1 means canoe singles, and C–2 means canoe pairs.
The difference between a canoe and a kayak is that in a canoe you use a single–bladed paddle, while in a kayak you use a paddle with a blade at each end.
For men, there were three slalom events and eight sprint events in canoeing at Rio 2016. The slalom events were C–1, C–2 and K–1. Of the eight sprint events, two were in the C–1 class (200m and 1,000m), one in C–2 (1,000m), two in K–1 (200m and 1,000m), two in K–2 (200m and 1,000m) and one in K–4 (1,000m).
Women competed in five events: Slalom K–1, Sprint K–1 (200m and 500m), Sprint K–2 (500m) and Sprint K–4 (500m).
Basically, women only competed in kayaks, not canoes; and they sprinted over 500m instead of 1,000m.
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