Maddison Lewis has no hesitation when asked if she wants to compete at the next Freestyle World Championships.
“For sure,” the 17-year-old said, shortly after finishing her junior K1 semi-final in San Juan, Argentina, overnight.
She didn’t register a score from her two runs, but finished with a big smile on her face.
“This morning I was pretty nervous, I didn’t have much to eat,” Lewis said.
“But sitting up at the top eddy, warming up and talking to the other girls, kind of calmed me down a bit.
“I just wanted to have fun, do what I could, and if I don’t score at least I had fun.”
Lewis has only been doing freestyle for less than one year, training at the Penrith Whitewater Stadium.
She knows she still has a lot to learn from the sport, and has lots of tricks to master.
“I know what I’m going to do, I just don’t know what order,” she said.
“When I’m on the starting line, I’ll try and chuck something, or try and do a move that I haven’t done before.
“I’ll talk about it with my coach, and just go from there.”
The next world championships will be held in Spain in 2019, and coach Jez Jezz is predicting big things from Australia’s young paddlers.
Lewis said she learned a lot about what it takes to compete at the top level, and can’t wait to come back in two years.
“Even though I didn’t get a score, I enjoyed my time, which is what freestyle is all about,” she said.
“A couple of my friends have been watching the live video, and putting videos up and tagging me in them,” she said.
“My mum’s been watching every day as well, so it’s been good. School’s really interested as well.”
