Max Gandziuk - Canoe

Maksym (Max) Gandziuk is a canoe sprint athlete training in South Australia through the South Australian Sports Institute (SASI). Originally from Ukraine, Max’s sporting journey has been shaped by resilience, adaptability, and his passion for high-performance sport. After relocating to Australia in 2022 with his mother following the outbreak of the war, sport became a place for him to refocus and continue pursuing his ambitions.

With a strong background in paddling, Max initially trained in Sydney before moving to Adelaide to access a world-class canoe sprint environment. South Australia’s high-performance culture, coaching expertise, and training pathways have allowed him to fully commit to his development as an athlete.

Max has represented Australia at Junior World Championships in 2023 and 2024 as well as U23 World Championships in 2025, and continues to work towards competing at the highest level of the sport. Alongside his athletic career, he is studying physiotherapy, giving him a strong understanding of injury prevention, recovery, and long-term athlete development.

Driven, disciplined, and goal-focused, Max believes sport is about more than results. It’s about consistency, personal growth, and showing what’s possible through hard work. He is passionate about inspiring others to stay active, challenge themselves, and use sport as a tool for resilience and lifelong health.

Questions

The best thing about being a SASI Athlete:

Getting access to the world’s best facilities and the most incredible and supportive coaches.

My favourite food to fuel me as an Athlete:

Spaghetti Bolognese.

My favourite movie:

Home Alone 2.

My favourite colours:

Blue.

My sporting hero and why:

Michael Phelps: is my sporting hero because his discipline, consistency, and ability to perform under pressure set the standard for excellence. He showed that long-term success comes from mastering the basics every day, not just relying on talent.

My favourite possession:

My paddle.

The sporting activity I most like performing:

Long technical paddles where you have time to stretch out and really enjoy the process.

If I wasn’t doing my current sport I would like to be:

Travel the world.

The most important things in life:

Health, friends and family.

My ambassador activity tip:

Enjoy the journey. Trust the process and the result will take care of itself.

My favourite way to keep active:

Aside from paddling, I enjoy playing tennis and going for a run.

The sport I like watching the most:

I enjoy watching every sport but diving and tennis are my favourite.

What sporting success looks like:

Enjoying the journey, progressing over time, staying healthy, having fun, knowing that you gave it your all.