Canoe Sprint GP Sydney: Noah Havard, Riley Fitzsimmons team for shot at Paris Olympics

A week ago they were rivals in the surf. Now these two surf life savers and paddlers are teaming up to achieve a 2024 Paris Olympic dream.

North Bondi surf life saver Noah Havard put his heart and soul into beating multiple Olympian Riley Fitzsimmons for the prestigious ski title at the recent Summer of Surf championships.

Now he’s relying on the paddling star helping him achieve an extraordinary feat - making an Olympic kayak team less than three years after taking up a sport.

The 21-year-old has been teamed with Fitzsimmons in the K2 for the upcoming 2022 Canoe Sprint GP at Penrith later this week.

Paddler Noah Havard has gone from North Bondi to the QAS program under kayak legend Ken Wallace. Pic: Supplied

There they will race the K2 500m, K4 500m and assorted K1 events in the first major regatta of the year which doubled as an Australian selection trial.

The 21-year-old from North Bondi surf club said he has been learning daily from Fitzsimmons, a Central Coast paddler from the famous Avoca club who is now based on the Gold Coast with the Australian program.

“It’s been amazing for me to get so much experience from Riley,” said Havard, who only took up paddling seriously eight months ago and is considered one of the sports rising stars.

“I have learnt about the feel of the boat and getting the stroke right. With him I am able to copy myself on him. I’m just doing as I am told.

“I’m really excited. This is our first proper big regatta together and I’m there to grit my teeth and put in the power.”

Lachlan Tame, Riley Fitzsimmons, Murray Stewart and Jordan Wood of Team Australia in the K4 500m in Tokyo.

On the water they sync but off it the pair could not be more different.

Fitzsimmons is a highly credentialed paddler who has represented Australia at two Olympics and is now one of their most senior and experienced paddlers in the country.

Havard, in contrast, is one of the sport’s least experienced having only started doing he sport last year and only recently moving to the Gold Coast to train under kayak legend and multiple Olympic medallist Ken Wallace.

But with a wealth of talent retiring after the Tokyo Olympics - including Fitzsimmons’ three teammates in the Tokyo Olympic K4 in Jordan Wood, Lachlan Tame and Murray Stewart - there is opportunity calling for the rising stars of the sport.

And Harvard is one of them.

“I’m just so excited to be getting the experience from someone like Riley,’’ he said.

More from Amanda Lulham HERE

Originally published as Canoe Sprint GP Sydney: Noah Havard, Riley Fitzsimmons team for shot at Paris Olympics