[...] Object of the research was the training of Lithuanian high performance kayak paddlers over a fouryear Olympic cycle and changes in their fitness. The goal of the research was to investigate the theoretical material of high performance kayak paddlers’ training in Lithuania and to analyse the four-year Olympic cycle training of Lithuanian high performance kayak paddlers. The change in physical and functional capacities over the four-year Olympic cycle was investigated of two fittest Lithuanian kayak paddlers, who train for European and World championships and the Olympic games. The analysis also included training planning documentation and training registers as well as athletes’ diaries. Physical and functional capacities were measured in the separate annual cycles at the beginning of the preparatory period, in the phase of special training of the preparatory period, in the period of preparatory competitions, before and after the most important competitions. The analysis of annual physical loads in the Olympic cycle revealed that the athletes trained a sufficient number of days and the training load met the requirements.The training was efficient to achieve the necessary changes in athletes’ body relevant for a 500 m distance; however the time of arrival at the Olympic Games was unfavourable: the athletes had to compete in the period of radical functional changes and a decrease in their physical and functional capacity was identified. The analysis of the mesocycle of the main competitions of the competitive period in the four-year Olympic cycle showed that it was scientifically substantiated by the principles of the sports science: the structure of mesocycles was clear, two glycolytic training sessions were highlighted in a microcycle, the practical trainings were purposive, efficient and specialising in a 500 meter kayak paddling distance. However, an increased paddling speed just before the main starts did not allow the organism of the athletes to properly adapt to this. The indicators of physical development and muscle mass did not undergo any significant changes in the four-year Olympic cycle, whereas the results of a special 500 m simulation test and the indices of special anaerobic alactic capacity gradually increased. Arrival at the Olympic Games 6 days before the start was disastrous because it coincided with the acclimatisation phase of reduced physical working capacity. An increase in the tempo of paddling was not rational at that point. The 11th place in the Olympic Games did not satisfy the athletes themselves and their training staff
