Winning Medals on the Global Stage

Paddle UK supports the most talented athletes in the Olympic disciplines of Canoe Slalom and Kayak Cross, Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe to perform and win medals at the highest level, working towards Olympic and Paralympic success.

1. Meet our Paracanoe athletes here
2. Meet our Slalom and Kayak Cross athletes here
3. Meet our Sprint athletes here

Paddle UK operates two fully supported centralised WCP training environments through its two High Performance Centres.

1. The National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham is the home for the Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe programmes
2. The London 2012 Olympic Venue Lee Valley White Water Centre hosting the Canoe Slalom and Kayak Cross team.

Funded by UK Sport and the National Lottery, the British team have seen huge success on the international stage across the years, resulting in consistent achievements at Olympic and Paralympic level.

Success 2000-2012

Winning Olympic medals consistently since 2000, the sport gained its first ever Olympic Champion, Tim Brabants, in 2008. Since then, canoe sprint and canoe slalom continued to produce Olympic medals, with gold in both disciplines at London 2012 taking Britain's total to four at the home Games.

Rio and Tokyo Success

Rio 2016 saw us produce our best ever Olympic success, winning two gold and two silver across sprint and slalom, whilst Liam Heath MBE became Britain's most decorated Olympic paddler at Tokyo 2020, winning his fourth medal in three Games with bronze, alongside a silver in the canoe slalom.

Paracanoe made its Paralympic debut at the Rio 2016 Games, winning three gold and two bronze medals, before going on to win a fantastic seven medals at the Tokyo Paralympic Games following the introduction of the Va'a events.

Paris and Beyond

Paris 2024 offers further opportunities to win medals, with the introduction of the new Olympic discipline, kayak cross, whilst the Paralympics will have the women's VL3 event added to the programme.

Paddle UK also supports the non-Olympic disciplines, including Marathon, Polo, Freestyle, Wild Water Racing, Rafting,Surf Kayaking, Ocean Racing and the new emerging discipline of Stand-Up Paddling.