'Missing the Olympics was a massive blow' - Joe Clarke plots path to Paris 2024 canoe double

BySportsbeat

Updated 29/04/2021 at 16:08 GMT

The Yorkshire star has risen from European Cup to the Olympics in five years. The high-octane head-to-head event will debut on the Games programme in 2024, promising disqualifications, compulsory eskimo rolls and hopefully a groundswell of TV viewers.

GB's Joe Clarke

Image credit: Reuters

Olympic champion Joe Clarke plans to add extreme canoe slalom to his repertoire with a view to doubling up at Paris 2024.

The high-octane head-to-head event will debut on the Games programme in 2024, promising disqualifications, compulsory eskimo rolls and hopefully a groundswell of TV viewers.

Rio K1 gold medallist Clarke, who has only raced extreme slalom casually, will contest the discipline as soon as May's European Championships in Ivrea, Italy.

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"This is a massive step in the right direction for me," said the 28-year-old.

"I'm going straight into it having not had any practice with the head-to-head stuff. We're still waiting to get a ramp at our training centre.

"It will be a stab in the dark and a chance to learn about the event, which we're told is going to progress through the cycle in terms of how it's structured."

No slalom canoeist has ever won multiple medals at the same Games and Clarke believes he can be the first.

"Most of the iconic Olympians did multiple events and it's not so different to doubling up in swimming and athletics, it would be great for the sport" he said.

"Canoeing courses cost a lot of money to build so to have another medal contended on them makes it a bit more viable on price point too."

Clarke's focus on Paris has been sharpened by missing out on defending his title in Tokyo.

The Stoke star underwent shoulder surgery after the 2019 World Championships, at which he was pipped to K1 qualification by Bradley Forbes-Cryans.

Since then the world number two and his partner Bel have seen their wedding postponed twice - first due to coronavirus restrictions and then when the venue they booked went bust. They have set a third, and hopefully final, date in August.

Clarke's partner, a beautician, has also seen her income virtually evaporate due to the pandemic.

"Missing the Olympics was a massive blow, but there are much bigger things going on," he said.

We've done stuff like move house and DIY that wouldn't fit into a normal four-year cycle.

"All this has grounded me because you can get so absorbed by the cycle. When you step out of that for a year, you realise that beyond my career there will be other things in life.

"It sorts the balance out, rather than just living race by race, run by run."

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