René Holten Poulsen 2015 Sportsman of the Year

René Holten Poulsen and Ole Thorp (right).

Writer: Ayce Burnett | 14 March 2016 - Capping off a stellar 2015 international season, Rene Holten Poulsen will add another trophy to his cabinet after taking home the coveted Sportsman of the Year at the World Paddle Awards. The Danish sprint canoeist beat home a host of incredible athletes including 2014 winner Hank McGregor, sprint canoeist Sebastian Brendel and freestyle paddler Dane Jackson. 

The 26-year-old has a long list of achievements including an Olympic silver medal and 15 European Championship medals but it was his results in 2015 where he became a dual World Champion in the K1 1000 and K1 500 that cemented his name in paddlesport history.

After accepting the award, Rene reflected on the years of hard work and sacrifices he has made. “For a few years (2011, 2012, 2013) I basically coached myself. I had a coach, but not on a daily level. In 2014 I got a really good coach and we sort of cracked the code in Moscow (at the World Championships) and we knew where we were going and then in 2015 it really worked out. I was very pleased.”

Luca Homonnai, Rene Holten Poulsen and Sergey Medvedev.

After such a successful 2015 season, Rene is certainly the man to beat leading into the Olympic Games and he is ensuring he leaves no stone unturned, physically and mentally, in his preparation. “There’s a long way to go. Just because I’m aiming for it doesn't mean I’m going to get it. I’m training hard and right now its hard to know where you're at. You just have to wait and see what the season brings but I’m pretty confident so we will just have to wait and see. At the end of the day it’s not going to be the physical part it’s going to be the brains who wins.”

With the Olympics less than six months away, Rene is in the middle of a training camp in Florida which is a nine hour flight away from the ceremony location in Barcelona but it was a trip he was willing to make in order to receive this prestigious award. “I think it (the World Paddle Awards) is important for our sport because its a way to tell people that these are the guys you should be looking at but also to honour the people for their exceptional results. I think thats important.”

Rene also loves to get involved in a variety of paddlesports and credits a lot of his success to the sports diversity. “I just love racing in kayaks and it’s made me a better paddler to do other events as well. You don’t need to do just sprints, you need to do surf ski and down river races, short races and long races,” he said.

“I’ve done 60km in a training session but I’ll also just do 50m in a session. Theres a big difference but in the end it makes you a really good paddler and you need to be able to do a lot of different things to be a good kayaker.”

Whilst K1 is his current focus, Rene hopes to also qualify a spot in the K2 1000 for the Olympics.

For the other winners of the 2015 World Paddle Awards click here.