Great Britain’s record-breaking canoe slalom team is back on international duty this weekend in the opening event of the 2025 season.
Joe Clarke MBE, Kimberley Woods and Adam Burgess are all back in Paris, racing on the iconic Vaires-sur-Maine course where they won their Olympic medals last summer.
The team will be joined by a cohort of talented young paddlers which includes a raft of international U23 medallists.
U23 K1 World Champion Lois Leaver and three-time U23 Kayak Cross World Champion Nikita Setchell will line up in both the kayak and kayak cross alongside Kimberley Woods.
U23 European silver medallist Ellis Miller will be racing the women’s C1, as will former U23 World Champion Bethan Forrow, who returns to international racing for the first time since giving birth to her son in 2023.
Double Olympic bronze medallist Kimberley Woods will be tripling up across her three disciplines as she takes on the K1, C1 and kayak cross.
In the men’s event, 2023 K1 and kayak cross world champion Joe Clarke will be joined by Jonny Dickson, who won gold in kayak cross at the Ivrea World Cup last year. The 2023 U23 World kayak cross champion Sam Leaver will also join them on the ramp.
Ben Haylett, U23 European K1 champion, will take his place for his first senior Europeans in the K1.
Finally, for the men’s C1, 2023 European Games Champion Ryan Westley will join Paris silver medallist Adam Burgess alongside Luc Royle, who kicks off his senior team debut season.
The races can be watched on the live stream on the Canoe Europe YouTube channel and the live results feed is here.
The racing starts on Thursday 15 May with the team events, with all canoe slalom athletes racing the heats on Friday.
Canoe slalom finals are the order of play on Saturday with Sunday dedicated to the kayak cross.
Full team:
Men’s Canoe
Adam Burgess (Stafford and Stone)
Luc Royle (Stafford and Stone)
Ryan Westley (Lower Wharfe)
Women’s Canoe
Kimberley Woods (Rugby)
Ellis Miller (Lee Valley)
Bethan Forrow (Lee Valley)
Men’s Kayak
Ben Haylett (Holme Pierrepont)
Joe Clarke MBE (Stafford and Stone)
Jonny Dickson (CR Cats)
Women’s Kayak
Kimberley Woods (Rugby)
Lois Leaver (Edinburgh Schools)
Nikita Setchell (Holme Pierrepont)
Men’s Kayak Cross
Joe Clarke
Jonny Dickson
Sam Leaver (Edinburgh Schools)
Women’s Kayak Cross
Kimberley Woods
Lois Leaver
Nikita Setchell