Planet Canoe

Richard Fox is the new chair of the ICF's slalom committee. He shares his views on where the discipline's at, and where it goes from here.

Belgium's Marian Sarbu won a closely fought contest to become the new chair of the ICF's Ocean Racing Committee. He shared some of his thoughts for the future with us.

Australia's Dylan Littlehales heads to the Paris 2024 Paralympics in the best form of his life.

Nelia Barbosa talks about the thrill and expectation of competing at a Paralympics in front of a home crowd.

A chat with Team GB paracanoe athlete David Phillipson ahead of the Paris Paralympics. Dave was one of the last athletes to earn his quota for Paris.

Jean Michel Prono - the man who has been running canoe slalom for 20 years - says this will be his last Games in charge. And he's leaving on a high, with the introduction of kayak cross at the Olympics considered a tremendous success.

Yves Bourhis might have been making his Olympic debut for Senegal, but he had the entire French crowd behind him at Paris 2024.

The Olympic experience: Czechia's Gabriela Satkova and Italy's Marta Bertoncelli talk about their Olympic experience in Paris.

A tale of two Olympics. In this emotional but uplifting episode Tokyo Olympic champion Ricarda Funk talks candidly about her emotions after missing a medal in Paris.

Sue Natoli is chief judge at the canoe slalom competition at the Paris Olympics. It's her seventh Games, and she's seen a lot of changes.

So what's the secret to designing an Olympic canoe slalom course? We chat with Irati Goikoetxea and Sebastian Schubert, who designed the Paris Olympic 2024 course.

A chat with British Olympian Adam Burgess after he qualified for the C1 semi-finals at the Paris Olympics

On the eve of the Paris Olympics we chat to one of the French paddlers who will be carrying the hopes of her nation, Camille Prigent.

It was a day not for the nervous when Tim Anderson earned the right to represent Australia in the kayak at the Paris Olympics.

Our latest Path to Paris podcast features a chat with Tokyo Olympian Kimberley Woods. The British paddler is preparing for her second Games, and talks openly about her battles off the water.

In our podcast this week we chat with two-time Australian Olympian Alyce Wood, who will compete in Paris for the first time as a mother.

Eva Tercelj has been to two Olympics and is a former ICF slalom world champion. She's determined to break through for a medal in Paris

French teenager Titouan Castryck is hoping to make his Olympic debut in Paris this year.

Dutch paddler Martina Wegman is preparing for her second Olympic Games after finishing seventh in the K1 in Tokyo.

Danish multiple marathon world champion Mads Pedersen is putting everything on the line to try and qualify for his first Olympic Games.

In our latest Path To Paris podcast we chat with Australian slalom paddler Tristan Carter, who was involved in a tense struggle to earn the Oceania quota for Paris 2024.

In this episode of our Path to Paris podcast series we chat with the Polish Tokyo 2020 Olympian and slalom paddler Klaudia Zwolinska.

Benjamin Savsek is the reigning Olympic and World C1 slalom world champion. He's also one of the nicest athletes you will ever meet. The Slovenian chats to Planet Canoe about his journey so far, and his dreams for the Paris Olympics next year - if he can qualify!

Curtis McGrath is the most successful paracanoe athlete ever, with three Paralympic gold medals. In our Path to Paris conversation Curtis revisits the day he stepped on a mine in Afghanistan, how he turned tragedy into triumph, and what the future might hold for the Australian.

Three years ago Amir Rezanejad walked for 16 days through the mountains of Iran to escape his country. Now he is trying to get to the Paris Olympics as a refugee athlete. We caught up with Amir after he competed at the ICF Junior and U23 canoe slalom world championships in Krakow, his first competition in three years.

A chat with Danish two-time canoe sprint Olympian and three-time medalist Emma Jorgensen about Paris 2024, embracing K2, dealing with post-Olympic blues and the importance of having a trade outside of sport.

This year Robinson Mendez hopes to be competing at his fifth Paralympic Games, but his first as a paracanoe athlete. He only took up the sport after the Rio Paralympics, but the Chilean has already shown he thrives on a challenge!

Welcome to a new series where we introduce you to some of the athletes who will compete at this year's Tokyo Olympic or Paralympic Games. In this episode we catch up with Dutch canoe slalom athlete, Martina Wegman, who is set to make her Olympic debut in Japan.

Australians Alyce Burnett and Jordan Wood made their Olympic debuts in Rio in 2016. Last year they qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, and got married. Since then life has been interesting, to say the least! We talked to Jordan and Alyce about training through lockdown, how Jordan broke his collarbone, who leaves the lid off the milk, and how the postponement of the Olympics might change their life plans.

In the first of a new series, "Paddle Talk", we catch up with two-time ICF ocean racing world champion Sean Rice. We talk life in lockdown, the emotion and effort that goes into becoming a world champion, his decision to move from South Africa to the UK, and how he almost became a British paddler. And much more.

In our final episode of "How Sport Stars Cope in Covid-19 Lockdown" Rio 2016 Olympic silver medalist tells us what it is like being an elite athlete in a country of 2 million, how Covid-19 has changed his sporting outlook, and the thrill of a possible fourth Olympic Games.

Stand up paddling world, European and Australian champion Michael Booth joins us to talk about life during lockdown, his plans for the future, why SUP is taking off around the world, and should it be in the Olympics.

German Ricarda Funk has already qualified to contest the canoe slalom at the Tokyo Olympics, which will be her first Games. American Kaitlyn Verfuerth is hoping to go to her fourth Paralympics, but her first in paracanoe after previously contesting tennis. She still has to qualify for Tokyo. Both athletes have had their preparations seriously disrupted by covid-19. In our fourth ICF podcast, Ricarda and Kaitlyn talk about how they are coping with lockdown, how it affects them mentally and physically, and what they do to pass the time. Spoiler alert: one of our athletes spends a lot of time watching Harry Potter movies!

In our third sport podcast we chat with Denmark's 2008 Olympic silver medalist, Rene Poulsen, 2016 Paralympian Scott Martlew from New Zealand, and Austria's 2014 Youth Olympic Games gold medalist, Nadine Weratschnig. They talk about how they are coping with lockdown, what their thoughts are about the next 12 months, and give tips on what to watch, read and do to pass those long hours indoors..

In this second episode of 'How Sport Stars Cope in Covid-19' we talk to Rio 2016 Olympic canoe sprint gold medalist Tom Leibscher of Germany, Australia's canoe slalom Olympic silver and bronze medalist Jessica Fox, and Paralympic silver and bronze medalist Charlotte Henshaw of Great Britain about how they are coping with coronavirus restrictions. Like all athletes, its a struggle, but they are not losing sight of the bigger picture.

The coronavirus has turned the world on its head, and everyone is learning new ways to cope. Among them are the world's best athletes. Join our chat with world and European canoe slalom champion Alexander Slafkovsky of Slovakia, Olympic canoe sprint athlete Linnea Stensils of Sweden, and Australian Paralympic gold medalist Curtis McGrath, as they talk us through how the virus is affecting them mentally and physically, and how they feel about the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Their situation is similar to a lot of sport stars around the globe - and with Covid-19 set to change the way athletes train and prepare, its going to provide lots of challenges.