Team events use a single run format with the team with the fastest time including penalties awarded gold. Teams consist of three paddlers from the same country.
Penalties are accumulated for each athlete, such that a team can incur a total of 150 seconds of penalties on a single gate (if all three miss it) or 6 seconds (if all three touch it). The time begins when the first paddler crosses the start beam and ends when the last one crosses the finish beam. All three paddlers must cross the finish line within 15 seconds of each other or else incur an additional 50-second penalty.
The teams had to navigate a total of 18 gates along the course, including 6 upstream gates (4-7-8-11-14-15).
