Jackson honoured to win Lifetime Achievement award

Video interview: Nick Harding | Article: Tom Collings | Video production: Gijs Takken

Four-time K1 freestyle world champion Eric ‘EJ’ Jackson was acknowledged for is outstanding contribution to paddle sports both on and off the water by winning the Lifetime Achievement award at the inaugural World Paddle Awards in Augsburg, Germany on Saturday.

It was a true recognition for what has been a stunning contribution to freestyle, slalom and extreme kayak paddling in the USA.

He is an inspiration to young freestyle paddlers globally and at the tender age of 50 he doesn’t look like slowing down yet having been a member of either the slalom or freestyle USA teams for the past 25 years.

In addition to his four K1 freestyle world titles his feats include winning two pre-World Championships, a World Cup victory and finishing 13th at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

“I was really amazed that I got a lifetime achievement award while still participating. A lot of times they are reserved for people who have retired from what they are doing so it makes me motivated to try and achieve more basically,” Jackson said.

Through the eyes of many, Jackson is the greatest K1 freestyle athlete that has ever lived and in the past 20 years he has seen first-hand just how far the sport has evolved.

Today he admits it is a ‘new sport’, the boats are half the length, there are big moves on waves and holes, there is new equipment and the sport is changing rapidly all of the time.

Jackson’s passion for expanding the sport lead to the creation of ‘Jackson Kayak’ which was founded in 2003, as he felt he could make a positive impact on the sport with equipment and kids kayaking.

Today his son Dane, daughter Emily and son-in-law Nick train alongside him in what he describes as his ‘pod’. Their goal is to continue to push the sport and today they are winning almost all the competitions as a family.

In recent years freestyle has been growing world-wide and the level of elite paddling has increased in countries all around the world.

Jackson has been encouraged by the development at grassroots level and is excited to see more young people entering the sport.

“I think freestyle is going to have a long good future and it certainly would make a great Olympic sport”, he said.

But whether it makes it onto an Olympic program or not, Jackson believes that it is important that people continue to really enjoy the sport.

One thing is for sure, while he remains in the freestyle scene, the sport will continue to evolve for generations to come.