We are proud to announce the Paddle Games Athletes Commission — three extraordinary athletes who will work alongside us to help shape the future of canoe sprint. Together, they will help design events that are bolder, more accessible, and built for a new generation of paddlers and fans.

Over the coming days, you’ll meet them one by one. Their voices, vision, and passion for the sport are exactly why they were chosen.

Stay close. This is just the beginning.

First up: Victor Gairy Aasmul, Olympian, competitor, and a key member of the Paddle Games Athletes Commission.

What motivated me to say yes — and what does canoe sprint need more of right now?

I decided to say yes because I think the whole concept of bringing kayak racing closer to the general public and into city centres is exactly what the sport needs. I know so many people who have been impressed by what the sport offers once they’ve made the trip to a regatta course — but very few do unless they have a personal connection to it: knowing someone, following someone, having something invested. From a distance, kayaking looks cool. Up close, it looks awesome. And it feels even more awesome when there is a big crowd around you, just like at a football match.

Another thing canoe sprint needs more of is competitions where socialising and competing carry equal weight — events where everything isn’t focused on Olympic qualification points, and where there is genuine time and space for younger athletes, fans, and competitors to connect with one another. I think the Paddle Games concept encapsulates these values perfectly, and I want to be part of giving the sport the platform it deserves.

Who is this sport for?

I think this sport is for everyone. It’s relatively easy to start paddling — there are boats for every level, and it is entirely up to you whether it stays recreational or becomes the beginning of a road toward the international stage. The one thing I would say to anyone training hard, including myself: remember to enjoy the process. Don’t spend every second of every session staring at your speed. Look up — just once in a while. And realise that you are sitting on the water in a boat. It can feel quite serene. Besides, it’s pretty cool to own a boat.

What would you create?

Right now I am in the process of creating a 100m knock-out sprint event in Copenhagen at Islands Brygge, which is incredibly exciting. The Football World Cup viewing party will be just a few hundred metres away, so the atmosphere at the racing venue should be something special. That is, in essence, what I would want to create more of. If I could take it further, I’d love to see it move to the lakes of Copenhagen in the coming years — something the Danish canoe sprint community has talked about for a long time. I know it was held there back in 1993, and bringing it back would be a brilliant moment for the sport. Add to that paddlers flying in from around the world to race unconventional distances, and you have something that doesn’t look like anything else on the calendar.

What do you take away from this role for yourself?

Most of all, I hope to build friendships and connections with athletes and people in the paddling community I would never otherwise have met. Beyond that, I hope to gain a real understanding of how these events are built from the ground up — the logistics, the politics, and the bigger conversations about what our sport can learn from others. I want to come away with a clearer sense of where canoe sprint can go, and to have been part of moving it in that direction.

Follow Victor on Instagram.