Tim Anderson

After missing out on selection for the Rio and Tokyo Olympics, K1 paddler Tim Anderson never gave up – and now his resolve and determination are paying off.

Tim was crowned the Oceania champion after finishing as the best-placed paddler from the region with an equal fourth at the Oceania canoe slalom titles at the Penrith Whitewater Centre early in February 2024.

A week later he nailed down his place in Paris when he finished fifth in the K1 at the Australian Open, also at Penrith. To top off the weekend, he won the kayak cross event.

“It’s awesome,” Tim said. “I can’t explain how good it feels to have the pressure off.”

Tim, who grew up in Eltham, Victoria, followed his brother Alastair into the sport, learning to paddle on Melbourne’s Yarra River through the Eltham College Program.

“My older brother had already started paddling with the high school so I thought I might as well give it a shot.

“In 2006 I was recruited as part of the Rapidly to London program, which was a talent identification program.”

As an 18-year-old, he moved from Victoria to Penrith to pursue his sporting dream. He describes the move as the toughest challenge he has faced, but his results began slowly to improve.

Tim finished eighth at the 2022 World Championships in Augsburg, Germany and a year later qualified for his first World Championships men’s kayak final. Placing fifth, it was the best result of his career so far and the near faultless run secured Australia a spot in the Paris 2024 Olympic competition.

In kayak cross, he also made the quarter-finals in all five races of the 2023 World Cup to finish third in the overall standings.

Tim, who lists his interests outside paddling as studying, Rubik's cubes, hiking, knitting and rock climbing, completed a bachelor of biomedical engineering/bachelor of science at the University of Sydney.