Anderson reveals why Oz Championships success tasted sweet

Paris Olympian Tim Anderson enjoyed a standout Nationals at western Sydney’s Penrith Whitewater Stadium, being named the National Overall Champion for Men’s Kayak. He revealed why he never takes success at the Nationals for granted.

NSWIS: Tim, congratulations on being named the National Overall Champion for Men’s Kayak event, what does that mean to you based on the fact you that after being to world championships, Olympics, you’re giving your all at the National Championships?

Tim Anderson [TA]: It still means a lot. I think I’ve been unsuccessful at the National Championships for a lot of years and really haven’t quite hit my peak form, so it was really awesome to race my best today. And it’s a special – 10 years since my first National Championship, so it’s pretty nice.

NSWIS: When you say 10-years it sounds a loooong time. Does it become more rewarding each year?

TA: The first year I won a National Championship was a bit of a surprise, I sort of took it in my stride; pumps you up a bit but it’s really good to to know you’re at the top of your game and it is really special to get your name on that trophy.

NSWIS: You’ve returned from America from a training camp, was that good preparation for today?

TA: I think so. I found it very difficult to paddle there so, comparatively, when I jumped back on the water here it felt like a dream. Everything flows very nicely, I’m very familiar with the course – it was awesome.

NSWIS: Every event is an opportunity to learn, what did you learn from this competition?

TA: I learnt a lot about my race approach. I was talking to my NSWIS sports psych about how I approach the racing because I think in the heats day I probably held back a bit too much. So even though when the run feels good it wasn’t as fast as it could be when I went flat out. So today we said, ‘we’re going to take some risks, go flat out’ it might work, it might not – and it did.

NSWIS: World Cup competitions are coming up, your thoughts ahead of competing in those?

TA: I’m just looking forward to getting on the World Cup circuit again, hopefully injury free this year which would be very nice. Yeah, going to do my first one in Prague this year which is the gold standard world cup and the home of slalom at the moment.

Daniel Lane, NSWIS