Dunfermline’s Katie Reid, is the latest athlete selected to represent Team GB at the Tokyo games. Katie will also make history next month as she will be the first female C1 canoe sprint paddler to represent Great Britain as the event makes its Olympic debut on the Sea Forest Waterway in Tokyo.

Already a talented athlete, Katie was an accomplished Scottish karate champion before transitioning to canoeing as part of the Girls 4 Gold training programme seven years ago with sights firmly set on Tokyo.

Katie earned her Canoe Sprint spot following notification from the International Canoe Federation that Great Britain would be allocated a quota place in the WC1 200m for the Tokyo Olympic Games, the place is reallocated following a countback from the 2019 Canoe Sprint World Championships in line with the ICF Olympic Qualification System. 

“I am over the moon to be representing Team GB at the Olympic Games. I can’t wait for the adventure. Now I am going, I can’t wait to go out there and give it my all,” she said.

It is a great honour to represent women’s canoe with it being the first time it has been in the Olympic Games. It is such a fast progressing sport, so it is really exciting to be part of that group taking it on for the first time and I am really grateful to be that person representing Team GB.

“My coach James Train has put so much work in over the last few years and this is his spot as much as it is mine. We come as a team and a partnership. I can’t wait for him to see me race.

“I had a little taste of Team GB in Minsk at the European Games in 2019 and I just can’t believe I get to represent Team GB at this level. You dream of it as a kid, and to be here right now I am very proud.”

SCA Head of Performance and Pathways, and double Olympic medallist, Jon Schofield comments:  Katie has been a trailblazer in Women’s C1 since the early days of its introduction to the World Championships programme. Taking her skill set from a successful career in karate, she has managed to keep improving year on year in a class where the standard has been accelerating at a high rate. To see Katie join the start line for this historic event is really fitting and I look forward to seeing the performance she will deliver.

Katie will be competing along with Team GB athletes Liam Heath MBE, fellow Scot Deborah Kerr and Emily Lewis, in the Canoe Sprint taking place 2-7 August.