Kayaker Kimberley Woods feeling ‘really good vibes’ as she goes for gold

Team GB kayaker Kimberley Woods has said she is feeling “really good vibes” as she aims for a medal in Paris, while her partner has vowed to “scream the place down” from the sidelines.

Woods is competing in the women’s kayak semi-finals of the canoe slalom event on Sunday afternoon and said before the tournament that she is going for gold.

The 28-year-old, from Rugby in Warwickshire, made her Olympic debut in Tokyo in 2021, where she came 10th after making it to the finals.

Ahead of the Paris Olympics, at the kitting-out session in Birmingham in June, Woods told the PA news agency that she felt “quite different” going into these Games.

She said: “I’m three years older than I was back then and a lot has changed. I’m more confident in myself and my body and what it can do.

“I’m going into the Olympics being world number one, world champion, and World Cup champion, so, yeah, some really good vibes happening at the minute.”

Woods added that she is “for sure” going for gold.

“I go to every competition to go and win it,” she said. “I wouldn’t be myself if I didn’t.

“So the Olympics is no different. There might be a little bit of pressure in the status that I hold, but I never take any race for granted.

“The person that’s going to win is going to be the best mentally, and that’s what I’m going to try and be.”

Her partner, Elliott Woodman, was one of the managers at the White Water Centre where Woods trains and they met in 2016 through their friendship groups.

The 29-year-old, who now works as a firefighter and lives with Woods in east Hertfordshire, has watched her compete many times, including in Paris at a test event last October.

He said it is “absolutely horrendously nerve-racking” to watch her compete.

“I’ll know exactly how Kim is thinking and how she’s feeling and then, when things go well, it’s absolutely overwhelming, the emotion.”

Asked what Woods is like when she competes, he said: “She’ll be very, very in the zone but, I mean, she’s like undercover in the zone, if that makes sense. You can tell she’s dialled in to the race and all the competition, but she can still have a laugh with people.”

He spoke of the “gutting” disappointment of not being able to watch her compete in Tokyo.

“It was heartbreaking,” he said, but added that he is excited to be able to watch her in Paris.

“We’re going to scream the place down,” he added.

“Me as a person, I’m quite relaxed, I don’t like making a scene or anything, but when it comes to competitions and a bit of sport, I feel sorry for the people sitting next to me.”

He will be spectating in Paris with Woods’ grandparents, her best friend from school, and some of her cousins, and that their presence will “100%” make a difference.

“Kim definitely thrives on the support and the attention, not to make her sound attention-seeking.

“Kim absolutely loves crowds.”

He said she is “chomping at the bit to get out there”.