Sometimes even the friendliest people enjoy good competition.
That was the case between Evy Leibfarth and Tom Dollé on Saturday as the duo sped down the brand new track at Montgomery Whitewater, which opened with a whole host of events this weekend. Dollé, 22, found himself in the finals of a $1,000 competition after winning a few qualifying heats.
In his way? Leibfarth, a 19-year-old Olympian who also has experience competing at the Pan American Games and other competitions on the world stage. Leibfarth and Dollé rushed down the water, bumping kayaks and delivering unintentional punches before Dollé, who has experience as a two-time world champion himself, took the lead and crossed the finish line first, earning his payday.
“I think kayak cross is really unique because in the beginning you’re all joking and having fun,” Leibfarth said. “(But) as soon as they say, ‘Done? Come on, the competition is fierce. You try to win and try to get rid of all the other boaters.”
“But once you get down, you’re all friends again. I think it’s a really nice dichotomy of two very different ways of thinking. I’m really excited about (Dollé), he’s a really talented paddler and it’s really fun.” See him come all the way to Alabama for this race.
The good-natured competition was one of the highlights at Saturday’s grand opening of Montgomery Whitewater, a park designed by Scott Shipley’s S2O Design and Engineering, a Colorado-based company that has worked on other whitewater courses in Oklahoma City and Charlotte.
Shipley, herself a kayaker and a competitor at the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Olympics, is the one who reached out to Leibfarth to see if she would be interested in traveling from Montgomery to Montgomery to attend the event, titled ” Extreme Kayak Cross Finals: Beat the” preferably with Evy Leibfarth.
Leibfarth’s father, Lee Leibfarth, paddled with Shipley before Evy was born.
“I think it’s very unique,” Leibfarth said of the course. “It’s very windy and very fast technical water, which I think is really fun. I think in all of Shipley’s courses he tries to orient himself to other places, but also to make it a unit of its own. I think he did a really good job.” That’s my job here. …
“It was really fun to get out here and learn a new course because you don’t do that often. There are only a limited number of courses and we attend them all the time. … It’s always great to learn a new course and learn a new place.
Leibfarth’s connection to Shipley and a desire to try a new course were major reasons for their appearance, but a desire to expand the sport in the United States also played a big part.
“From our point of view, we’ve both been at the international circuit and you see a lot of these World Cups and big races in Europe at these big, big circuits,” said Leibfarth’s teammate Jordan Sherman. “Then when you go to these countries, there are so many courses. Every country has a handful of courses and they are much smaller than ours; therefore they form great communities and have great development programs.”
“What we’re trying to do in the US is, instead of just having one or two hotspots, we’re trying to really expand it to different parts of the country and get new kids into the sport (and get people excited about it). the sport, be it racing or just enjoying the great outdoors and kayaking.”
Leibfarth added, “I think the biggest factor limiting the growth of kayaking right now is the accessibility. Lots of new ways for kids to learn about and fall in love with the sport.
As a 17-year-old, Leibfarth already took part in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo and his next goal is of course a medal. But she also has some ambitions that go beyond her personal career.
“I really want to win an Olympic medal one day,” said Leibfarth. “But apart from that, I want to draw more attention to whitewater sports and get young kids, especially young girls, into the sport. It’s a very European dominated sport. There aren’t many of us running it.” There are so many opportunities to grow up and learn in the United States, especially for girls.
“Even out here there are a lot more men than girls. I’m just showing that they don’t have to be big, spooky whitewater. You can do really cool things on non-scary rivers.”
Richard Silva is a reporter for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at [email protected] or on Twitter at @rich_silva18.
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