Fourteen Australian canoe sprint paddlers will be contesting the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games with a record 52 countries and 249 athletes to compete in the canoe sprint competition at Seaforest Waterway from 2-7 August 2021.
Overview
Team Australia will be showcasing an exceptional mix of experience and young talent with seven athletes making their Olympic debut, a further six returning for their second Games and Olympic champion Murray Stewart contesting his third Olympics.
The team includes the maximum country quota of six men and six women in the kayak events and for the first time ever, two women canoeists. Women’s canoeing will premier on the Olympic program in Tokyo and Josephine Bulmer and Bernadette Wallace will be writing sporting history as the first women’s canoeists to represent Australia at the Olympic Games.
On the kayak team, Rio Olympians Alyce Wood (nee Burnett) and Alyssa Bull will contest the women’s K2 500m as well as the K1 500m, while London Olympian Jo Brigden-Jones will be teaming up with Games newbies Catherine McArthur, Shannon Reynolds and Jaime Roberts in the K4 500m. Brigden-Jones and Roberts will also double up in the K2 500m.
In the men’s kayak events, London gold medallist and Rio Olympian Murray Stewart spearheads a stellar line up in the men’s K4 500m, including Rio Olympic medallist Lachlan Tame as well as Rio Olympians Riley Fitzsimmons and Jordan Wood. Fitzsimmons and Wood will double up in the K2 1000m as will Games debutants Thomas Green and Jean van der Westhuyzen, who will also add the K1 1000m to their race program.
Canoe Sprint Team
Ones To Watch
Australia’s Games debutants Jean van der Westhuyzen and Tom Green will be amongst the ones to watch as the team youngsters take on the world in both the Men’s K1 1000m as well as the Men’s K2 1000m. Following impressive results against their team mates Riley Fitzsimmons and Jordan Wood during trials and with two Australian boats contesting the event, this promises to be a hot Aussie battle on the Olympic stage.
Hot racing is also to be expected when Fitzsimmons and Wood jump into the K4 with Olympic champion Murray Stewart and Rio bronze medallist Lachlan Tame to take on one of the most fiercely contested events on the Olympic canoe sprint program.
In the women’s events, Rio Olympians Alyce Wood and Alyssa Bull are out for redemption following their eighth place in Rio, while Australia’s canoeists Bernadette Wallace and Josephine Bulmer are ready to set a mark at their first Olympic Games.
The Format
There are 12 canoe sprint events at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games with heats, semifinals and finals (A and B) held over the 1000m, 500m and 200m distance.
Australia will be represented in eight events, including all women’s and men’s 1000m and 500m kayak races as well as in the women’s C1 200m and C2 500m events.
In canoe sprint, races take place on a 9m wide flatwater course where boats line up and take off together when the starter signals. The top eight boats from the semi-finals advance to the ‘A’ final, while the boats placing 9th to 16th compete in the ‘B’ final.
In canoe sprint, two types of boats are used: canoe (C) and kayak (K). Canoe sees paddlers compete in a kneeling position using a single-blade paddle. In contrast, a kayak paddler competes in a sitting position using a double-bladed paddle. Kayak paddlers steer with their feet using a rudder, whereas there is no rudder in a canoe so athletes must use their paddle to steer.
European countries, especially Hungary and Germany, have traditionally dominated the canoe sprint competitions and will be amongst the favourites in Tokyo as well. In the women’s events, New Zealand is also a force to be reckoned with.
What's The Story?
Tokyo will be a family affair for Australia’s ’love boat” of Jordan and Alyce Wood (nee Burnett), who got married in October 2019 and with Jordan’s Olympic medal winning mum and Alyce’s mother-in-law-and-coach Anna Wood also on the team.
Tokyo is also a family reunion of a special kind for Games debutant and first-time Olympic canoeist Bernadette Wallace, who will have one of her biggest supporters by her side with her Olympic champion brother Kenny Wallace the Deputy Chef de Mission of Team Australia. After missing out of the Rio Games following melanoma surgery just before trials, Wallace will be celebrating a successful come-back to racing in Tokyo.
The Facts
Competition Details
- Competition Dates: 2 – 7 August 2021
- Competition Location: Sea Forest Waterway
Did You Know?
- Bernadette Wallace is the youngest sister of 2008 Olympic champion, Rio Olympic bronze medallist and Tokyo Deputy Chef de Mission Kenny Wallace. She is also a melanoma survivor.
- Team youngster Tom Green has also been mentored by Kenny Wallace and is one of Australia’s most promising young paddle talents.
- With paramedic Jo Brigden-Jones and firefighter Alyssa Bull, the team has two front-line workers on its team, who play a vital role in their respective teams on and off the water.
- Former South African canoe marathon Junior World Champion Jean van der Westhuyzen joins his first Australian Olympic Team after moving to Australia to pursue his dreams of becoming a Canoe Sprint Olympian and now races alongside his Australian role models.
Canoe Sprint Snapshot
