Olympic hopefuls ready to compete
With just one season under its belt since its splashy opening, Montgomery Whitewater will host the U.S. Olympic trials for kayak, canoe and kayak cross next month. On Wednesday, the park released a full schedule of free public events structured around the trials while two hopefuls talked about their
Olympic dreams.
On April 13 and 14, competitors will vie for the shortest times in their respective races, which will boost them on to the final trial in Oklahoma City and determine whether they will get positions on the Olympic team. Public events include men’s and women’s canoe slalom races starting at 9:15 a.m. each day; kayak cross time trials starting at 4 p.m. Saturday; and extreme slalom competition starting at 3:00 p.m.
Sunday. An awards ceremony will follow the races at 5 p.m. each day.
There’s also a public Get Down Concert Series with performances by nationally touring rock bands Dee Oh Gee and Graves B’hamala, as well as a health and wellness fair with family fun activities during the competition hours each day. There’s no charge to watch the races or attend the public events.
Kayak cross will be a featured event at the 2024 Olympics for the first time. It features four kayakers starting the race simultaneously and battling their way to the end.
Evy Leibfarth, 20, and Zach Lokken, 29, both competed in Tokyo and hope to move on to the Paris Olympics.
Leibfarth was on the first women’s canoeing team in Olympics history in 2020. “It was really special to be a part of the first batch of women in the Olympics,” she said.
“... For any little girls out there or teenagers or adults who want to try the sport you definitely should.”
Lokken, who everybody calls Bug, named kayak cross as the sport to watch.
“Kayak cross is crazy... it’s just like full-contact sport,” Lokken said. “... If you miss slalom, that sucks, but don’t miss kayak cross.”
Official training starts April 8, but Race Director Stacey Hepp said competitors will begin arriving days before that. Folks will flock to Montgomery from across the country as well as Canada, New Zealand and Djibouti.
“We came up with this dream of creating this place and bringing the world to Montgomery, Alabama for events just like this,” said Scott Shipley, who designed the park with his firm S2O Design and Engineering and has competed in three Olympics.
Shipley said hosting the Olympic trials in Montgomery, offers Alabamians the chance to be inspired.
“In the next Olympic team trials, we want someone racing in that event,” Shipley said.
Alex Gladden is the Montgomery Advertiser’s public safety reporter. She can be reached at agladden@gannett.com or on Twitter @gladlyalex.