Aidan Hall - Kayaking

Aidan Hall is a South Australian canoe sprint athlete whose sporting background began in surf lifesaving and swimming. He was first introduced to kayaking as a way to improve his ski paddling, but what started as skill development quickly became a high-performance pathway after he was offered a training agreement with the South Australian Sports Institute. From there, Aidan committed fully to sprint paddling and has since been progressing through the national development system.

In canoe sprint, Aidan earned selection on the Australian Junior team in both of his u18 years, the first of which was only 10 months after first transferring to kayaking. This allowed him to gain valuable international racing experience, competing at Junior and U23 World Championships, where he achieved a seventh-place finish in the K2. Domestically, he has achieved many successes, most notably winning national titles in both the K2 and K4 events.

Now transitioning from the junior pathway into the senior age group, Aidan is focused on continuing his development at the highest level. He trains with the long-term goal of Olympic selection and is driven by a desire to establish himself within the Australian senior sprint program, while continuing to build on the strong foundation created through both canoe sprint and surf lifesaving.

Questions

The best thing about being a SASI Athlete:

The opportunity to train with people outside of my own sport and learn about the different approaches they take with their career.

My favourite food to fuel me as an Athlete:

Any type of noodle.

My favourite movie:

Interstellar.

My favourite colours:

Orange.

My sporting hero and why:

Alastair Day: he is the greatest ironman in history and is who first inspired me to strive to become a high performance athlete. The way he handles himself in such a respectable way both during competition and away from it is how I want other people to look at me.

My favourite possession:

My u19 double ski gold medal.

The sporting activity I most like performing:

Racing K2.

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

An indoor volleyball player.

The most important things in life:

The people you surround yourself with – both friends and family.

My ambassador activity tip:

Don’t be afraid of change, especially a change you’ve chosen to make yourself.

My favourite way to keep active:

Kayaking or running with music in.

The sport I like watching the most:

Other than kayaking, volleyball or soccer.

What sporting success looks like:

Showing up every day, learning from setbacks, and trusting the work you’ve put in while continuing to enjoy the challenges along the way.