June marks the end of financial year, and a month of transition and celebration across a number of aspects of the organisation.
On behalf of Paddle Australia, I’d like to congratulate Richard Pettit who was appointed as the International Canoe Federation Secretary General this month. Richard is a terrific operator and I look forward to working closely with him, especially in the lead up to the 2025 Canoe Slalom World Championships in Penrith, NSW.
Our Australian Canoe Slalom team returned to the world stage this month, with three back-to-back ICF World Cup events across three cities in Europe. Jess Fox continues to impress us, with three gold medals so far this season with the World Championships and two World Cup events still to come.
We have also enjoyed watching our athletes in the new Olympic discipline, Extreme Canoe Slalom, and many congratulations to Noemie Fox who won silver in the event at the Krakow World Cup.
It has also been great to see our non-Olympic disciplines competing on the world stage again, with both the Wildwater Canoeing and Canoe Freestyle World Championships this month. Congratulations to our Australian athletes who wore the green and gold so proudly at these events, and I look forward to seeing the Canoe Marathon team in action later this year.
Back at home, it’s also been a busy month as we get prepared for the 2022/23 season.
Paddle Australia has been working closely with Sport Integrity Australia, and will be adopting the National Integrity Framework, effective 1 July 2022. The National Integrity Framework is all about safeguarding our sport, our Clubs and our people. It is critical that we keep paddling, both as a sport and recreation, safe and fair for everyone who participates, and the National Integrity Framework will allow us to do so. An overview of the National Integrity Framework can be found here.
Until next month, and as always, stay safe when exploring our beautiful waterways!
Phil Jones
Paddle Australia CEO
