By Freya Peters

In 2022, Victor Gairy Aasmul had broken down.

Crushing pressure to perform in a boat with three times world champion Rene Holten Poulsen and one of the biggest stages of the year, the European Championships, created the perfect storm.

He suffered an anxiety attack which forced him to take a step back and re-evaluate.

One year later, he was fulfilling an achievement so many athletes dream of. He was qualifying for the Olympics.

How did he get here? The answer is close at hand.

Victor started kayaking in 2014 because one of his childhood football friends, Simon Schuldt-Jensen, was involved in the sport and encouraged him to join.

With Simon joining Victor in the K4 this year, they now sit just meters apart every training session as they work together to try to qualify for the 2028 Olympics. The pair have had a sibling-like relationship over the years, competing as fierce rivals but also close friends.

After being part of the Danish senior team since 2018, Victor had his breakout year in 2021 winning bronze in the K1 500m at the World Cup in Szeged, Hungary. He finished just behind fellow Dane and three times world champion René Holten Poulson.

The pair also combined forces in the K2 500m event later that year to come seventh in front of a home crowd at the World Championships in Copenhagen.

This secured Victor some funding, but also required a mindset shift.

“When I started paddling with René, that was a whole new way of training because it was so focused on the results which I wasn’t really used to. I’ve always been really process focused,” said Victor.

However, putting too much emphasis on results is a risky business.

“We continued in the K2 in 2022 but, after the European Championships, I kind of broke down. I think I had an anxiety attack because I wasn’t used to being so focused on the results and also the pressure of paddling with a three times world champion,” said Victor.

“Going from just enjoying myself paddling, to suddenly doing quite well and then such pressure, it was just too much for me.” This forced Victor to re-evaluate.

“When training and racing went well, I was really happy. When it didn’t, it decided my whole mood. My family asked me if I actually noticed how much I talked about it, which I didn’t because it kind of became my whole life. It was my identity in such a way that there wasn’t space for anything else. My identity was tied so much to my performance instead of the whole person.”

With the support of his family and a sports psychologist, he took the focus away from outcomes and directed his energy towards enjoying the process instead.

“It was a lot of talking with my psychologist and just enjoying the training and getting away from the whole aspect of competing for a while, just focusing on what I can do,” said Victor.

“What I do now is I set a goal for each session whether that’s a technical thing or a frequency, anything. Then it’s really easy to look at it from a constructive point of view. Let’s say I try something in training and I don’t succeed, then I kind of just look to see what I did well other than that.”

For Victor, this experience also brought into focus the fact that training shapes his everyday life much more than racing does.

His 500m races take around one and a half minutes. In contrast, he spends 20-25 hours a week training on top of meetings, recovery and travel.

“It’s kind of mind-boggling to think about how little time you spend racing and it really puts it into perspective how important it is to enjoy the process and enjoy the small things that you do.”

Going into the 2023 season, an injury meant he spent much of the winter off the water building fitness on the bike and rowing machine. This built him a strong endurance base which he took into the K4 500m event.

Next came one of his proudest moments in sport. One that he never expected.

“I’ve never actually dreamed about the Olympics. I had just been dreaming about having fun and making sure that, when I finish, I can look back and not want to change anything.”

However, a strong early season World Cup performance took the K4 into the World Championships with momentum.

This World Championships in Duisburg, Germany was an Olympic qualification event, meaning crews had the opportunity to win their country a spot at the Paris 2024 Olympics.The Danish men’s K4 came 5th place in that race, buying Victor and teammates their Olympic ticket.

“Usually, my mind just goes completely blank while racing. But, in the last 100 meters of the final in the K4, it just kept on going on rewind. I just said,

‘We’re going to the Olympics, we’re going to the Olympics.’”

Victor prefers to share his success.

“I love racing the K4 because it’s a social thing, you share it with everybody. So when we sat in the boat after the race we were just enjoying it. Then we paddled to the warm-up course and our families and friends were standing at a bridge. The emotions just woke up, a little bit of crying, a little bit of happiness,” said Victor.

“It’s hard to describe that day.”

The Danish K4 placed 10th in the 500m at the Paris Olympics, a result that left the team wanting more.

However, Victor took the chance post-Olympics to embrace new challenges in life.

He had been completing an engineering degree part time when the opportunity arose to participate in Season 21 of Vild med dans, the Danish version of Dancing with the Stars.

“That experience also put into perspective how important it is to do something that you like and how much it gives energy and happiness to do something you’re passionate about, which made me abandon the bachelors in engineering.”

Victor has spent lots of time since Vild med dans reading, fiction and non-fiction. He simply chooses whatever he thinks looks interesting on the shelf.

Looking back through all the books he enjoyed the most, Victor noticed a theme. Psychology.

He decided it was time to take on a new degree in the subject and has been studying for a year now.

“Although it feels weird to be starting so late in a sense, it feels right because it’s something I have to do for the rest of my life.”

He now balances his studies with hobbies, socialising and training, making sure to keep his sense of identity broader than just his sporting achievements.

“I think, regarding identity, it’s knowing I have other things I can do and have done, because there’s a life outside of sports.” And, the Danish team is in a healthy place. “We’ve built a really good team at this point with really good communication. Everybody’s doing really well both emotionally but also physically. It’s a really good environment to be in.”

Victor’s plan now is to work towards Olympic qualification in the K4 500m event for the LA 2028 Games. But, the most important thing for him is to enjoy the process.

This is where the Paddle Games shines. Victor wants the focus to be on introducing kayaking to the people of Copenhagen.

“I have a vision in my head of it being very big and a lot of people watching, especially those who don’t normally see kayaking. It’s a very good way of showing off the sport and what it can do because a lot of people think it’s really interesting and fun to watch but it’s just common to travel to a venue just to watch kayak races.”

The Copenhagen Paddle Games will take place at the same time as the football World Cup, right next to a venue where the matches will be streamed, maximising the crowd.

Fans can expect close racing over short distances. The event will feature a team knockout format bringing the world’s best athletes together to compete in multi-national teams.

For Victor, it’s all about building something as a community.

“It’s going to be a party,” he said.

See you there.