The discipline has been added to the canoeing programme at the Games in place of the men’s and women’s K1 200 metres sprint events.

Kayak cross was originally called extreme canoe slalom and made its first appearance on the ICF World Cup circuit in 2015.

Competing in identical plastic creek boats, the four athletes slide off a ramp more than two metres above the water before negotiating both downstream and upstream buoys and producing a compulsory eskimo roll.

Konietzko is confident kayak cross will be a big hit at Paris 2024 and will help to generate a greater fan base for the sport.

"Every Olympic Games are different and we have a highlight with the introduction of kayak cross at the Games," Konietzko told insidethegames.

"We took two events away from the sprint and promised ourselves that we will still find more fans and have more crossovers of athletes which are not specialists in one discipline and can compete in kayak cross.

"I think we can leverage slalom on a new level because we can inspire new fans.

"This is a format that is close to recreational sport and we are using boats which everyone can buy with no special specifications and there is a judging system which makes it easier to understand and I think that will help us to gain new fans.

"It’s always a tough decision when you are taking something away but to stay where we are is not enough.

"We have to look to introduce innovation and to inspire new fans.

"That’s why we discussed how we can achieve our objective to become a sport that is more popular and inspire more kids to do our sport.

"Therefore, we finally thought that kayak cross is the best new format to achieve this goal."

Paris hosted a three-day ICF Sprint and Paracanoe World Cup last week which acted as a test event for the Olympics.

Competition was held at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium which is set to host the canoe sprint, canoe slalom and rowing races during Paris 2024.

Konietzko said the event was a success but stressed that the ICF was working with Paris 2024 to mitigate the impact of windy conditions.

"After some bumpy first hours everything went well and we are well prepared for the Games," said Konietzko.

"The Paris venue is very compact.

"It’s the first since Beijing [2008] where we have slalom and sprint venue together and athletes will enjoy the stadium even if we have to hope for good weather conditions next year.

"It's open and sometimes you have crosswind but we tried a new wave breaker system for the last 200 metres and that works well.

"We have discussed with Paris 2024 to extend over the whole course to have a wave breaker.

"It’s rotating and taking energy away from waves.

"It works well.

"Test events are important.

"It’s a challenge after a World Championships and Olympic qualification to go into another event.

"But almost all federations and their best athletes went to Paris because they wanted to get this special experience to compete one year before the Olympic Games on this venue and take away memories and experiences which they can use next year."