Olympic goal won’t cloud Lucien’s mind at world champs

There’s a good reason Lucien Delfour will look as though he’s giving everything he can muster when he represents Australia in the K1 event at the 2023 Canoe Slalom World Championships in England.

It’s because – with the championships doubling as an Olympic qualifying event – the 34-year-old is.

Delfour, who says coming to Sydney to represent France at the 2007 Youth Olympics in Australia had such a profound impact on him he swore his allegiance to the Great South Land four years later, laughed while saying he isn’t only racing the clock that times the athletes as they challenge the foaming white water course, its obstacles, and gates.

“I’ve always strived to get better and stronger,” said Delfour, a two-time Olympian and proud New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder. “But [I’m getting] towards the end of my career, so everything is much harder work.”

Nevertheless, Delfour, who was born in sun kissed Tahiti and lived there for four years before his family returned to the south-west region of France, where he learnt to paddle as an eight-year-old, arrived at the world championships regarded as one of Australia’s most respected paddlers.

He finished 17^th in the K1 event at the Rio Olympics, and eighth at the Tokyo Games, and he can use these world championships to book his ticket to Paris next year, where just like Jess Fox, and hopefully her younger sister Noemie, he’ll be competing in his childhood backyard proudly wearing Australia’s green and gold battle colours.

“I had high expectations for the last two Games, so, hopefully the third one is a charm,” said Delfour good heartedly. “Going to the Olympics is a big moment in your career – you have such a strong sense of pride and honour because you’re there representing the country.

“As an athlete it’s the best thing you can do, but you need to understand what it means: the responsibilities . . .  a lot of stress . . . that you need to remain humble because it’s a strong field and everyone competing there in your sport is good. The best.”

Delfour arrived in England a fortnight ago to prepare for the world championships. After starting the European season with three K1 top-10 results, including his fourth place in Augsburg, he told Paddle Australia his battle plan for London was to focus on consistently strong paddling.

He added that he wouldn’t allow the pressure of knowing an Olympics’ berth was at stake to cloud his mind.

“I was able to make three Finals in a row in the first three World Cups and came really close in the final in Seu” said Delfour.

“So, the paddling overall has been really good. It definitely adds extra pressure [being an Olympic qualifying event], we can’t deny it, but at the same time, we really have to focus on the padding itself, that’s all we can control.”

Daniel Lane, NSWIS