(2016 ☆ ARCHIVED) Aniol Serrasolses - Spain

ANIOL SERRASOLSES (Spain) – Nominee for 2016 Sportsman of the Year.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aniol1serrasolses/  Website: http://aniolserrasolses.blogspot.com.au

• Born: 1991, Discipline: Wildwater Kayaking, Represents: Spain
• Competiton: 2016 World Champion Extreme Kayaking, time record Stikine River with Ben Marr
• First descents:  Puma Falls (Chile), Keyhole Falls (Canada), Big Banana Falls (Mexico), Putumayo River (Colombia)

With one of the smoothest styles in the world, 25-year-old Aniol Serrasolses (aka 'La Cobra') has pushed the limits of wildwater paddling worldwide, tackling some of the most difficult and dangerous runs any paddler has ever attempted.

Wildwater paddling is without question one of the hardest and most dangerous disciplines in paddlesports. In fact, it may even be one of the most demanding sports on the planet. Athletes on Aniol's level train more hours than any Olympian, especially when preparing for special projects or expeditions. But come 'race' day, the difference between winning and losing is life and death. You can compare a wildwater athlete like Aniol with mountain climbers who reach some of the hardest peaks in the world. But the whitewater Aniol has decended goes way beyond climbing the Mt Everest, he has defied the odds and pushed this sport to a new level. He is the Edmund Hillary of whitewater paddling.

Some of Aniol’s biggest feats this year include his high water solo descent of the Alseseca River in Mexico, picking a clean line on Chile's infamous ‘ex-portacion rapid’ and becoming the first person to complete a decent of California’s Royal Gorge.

On top of these epic descents, he also took out the 2016 Adidas Sickline Extreme Kayak World Championship. Throughout the qualifying rounds there was only a couple of seconds separating the top 8 men, with Aniol ranked 9th. Going into the final it was anyone’s race, and after a near perfect run Aniol took out the championship with just 0.01s separated him from New Zealand’s Sam Sutton.

Aniol’s major breakthrough in extreme kayaking came in 2014 when he unlocked what is known as the ‘keyhole’, a never before done 3,000-cubic-metre-per-minute flowing, 35 meter tall waterfall in Canada.

Aniol’s motivation in paddling is to get into places that no one has been before, and with his skills and guts, there is no doubt he will continue to defy the odds for many years to come.

Activities and achievements off water:

• Aniol first started paddling thanks to his brother, Gerd, who won the Adidas Sickline event in 2015
• He enjoys cinematography
• His favourite things about kayaking is travelling, meet tons of new people and having the opportunity to produce great kayaking footage

This is a 2016 archived nominee. Voting has closed.