Great Britain plans to leave no stone unturned as they bid to earn Canoe Sprint quotas for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
At Paris 2024, Team GB enjoyed a successful outing in Canoe Slalom with four medals but did not qualify for Canoe Sprint races.
Until the Games in France last year, the country had medalled in the latter at the previous six editions, starting from Sydney 2000.
Paddle UK Performance Director Chris Furber said that they want to address the “disappointment” from Paris with a new structure and look forward to working differently as they “kick off the LA cycle”.
To help return to winning ways in the discipline, the National Federation has appointed James Train as Head of Performance Development – Canoe Sprint.
He will be joined by the former Technical Director of the Spanish team, Ekaitz Saies on an interim basis.
Train will help Paddle UK's Canoe Sprint performance strategy by working with clubs and academies to support the delivery of key development items along with coach development and knowledge sharing.
“I am looking forward to working alongside coaches to listen, learn and enable us to better support the development of talent pathways and hope to create structures that will support a more positive and sustainable athlete journey in our sport,” Train said.
Saies will join the programme in Nottingham having served as the Performance Director of the Spanish Canoe Federation for nine years, with the Spanish team winning two medals in Paris and reaching four other finals.
Paddle UK hopes his experience and understanding of the new International Canoe Federation World Rankings will help their goal to qualify for the Games in Los Angeles.
“I'm thrilled about this opportunity to identify areas for improvement, provide support to the coaches and athletes, and share my knowledge and experience with them,” Saies said.
“This team has great potential and I´m very motivated to help them achieve their goals.”
Paddle UK is looking for a podium coach for Canoe Sprint. For more details, click here.
Picture by Paddle UK.
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