Callum Gilbert

EVENT: Canoe Slalom: Men's K1

Callum Gilbert will be competing in his first ever Olympic Games at Tokyo 2020.

Gilbert will compete in the men's K1 event. His selection follows a strong performance on the 2019 ICF World Championship Tour, where he made it to three of the four semi-finals, with an overall fifth-place best finish.

This result was the best kiwi male finish in a World Cup K1 event. Gilbert had a clean run down London's Lee Valley course with a time of 94.26s, just 3.91s behind Olympic champion Joe Clarke.

Gilbert is coached by Paul MacDermid, a senior lecturer at Massey University in Palmerston North.

Gilbert gave up his job as a software engineer to focus on paddling his way to his Olympic dreams.