Luuka Jones, New Zealand’s trailblazing canoe slalom paddler, eyes fifth Olympics despite health concern
The Rio 2016 silver medallist has been managing long covid since March 2022 in the most challenging period of her 16-year career.
“There doesn’t seem to be a rule on how to come back from long covid or how much time it will take, which is hard,” posted canoe slalom athlete Luuka Jones in June 2022.
One year later, and the Rio 2016 silver medallist in K1 class – the K signifying kayak and 1 the solo aspect – is set to take part in her first World Cup event of the 2023 season, in Prague, Czechia from 8-11 June, and still eyeing a fifth Olympic Games.
Following the most challenging year of her 16-year international career, shoots of recovery have given the Kiwi hope she could still make Paris 2024 her swansong.
But it has been quite the journey to get to this point for the 34-year-old, a trailblazer for New Zealand in the sport.
New Zealand’s trailblazing paddler, Luuka Jones
Jones has given everything to the sport of canoeing, even moving from New Zealand to the UK as a teenager to train with the British team ahead of Beijing 2008, at which the 19-year-old became the first female canoe slalom paddler to represent New Zealand at an Olympic Games.
A 21st-place finish in the kayak discipline in Beijing laid the groundwork for improvement at London 2012, reaching the semi-finals and finishing 14th.
At Rio 2016, Jones made history for her nation, becoming the first Kiwi to ever win an Olympic medal in canoe slalom, with silver. In 2019, Jones claimed a world medal, a bronze in K1.
During the year-long delay to the Tokyo 2020 Games, Jones made good use of her time, co-creating a vegetarian cookbook for active people, alongside rower Brooke Donoghue and Christel Dunshea-Mooij, head of Performance Nutrition at High Performance Sport NZ. Entitled Sustain, the book contains well-rounded recipes plus information “to help make great decisions around fuelling for the work you are doing”.
A committed vegetarian, Jones is passionate about animal welfare, even finding friendship with her chickens. A eulogy posted in June 2022 after one chicken sadly died stated: “Thanks for being such a great friend. You showed me, and hopefully others that chickens are amazing animals that deserve a much better life than the majority receive. Helen loved to hunt crickets, hang out with me in the gym, listen to music and go on adventures with her best friend Debbie.”
Jones was happy to be reunited with her chickens on her return from Tokyo. She needed the solace.
Luuka Jones' comeback trail
The Japan Games saw Jones heartbroken after coming sixth in the final of the K1 discipline, and 13th in C1 – the first time the canoe discipline had been featured for women at an Olympic Games.
“Yesterday was tough,” said Jones following the kayak competition. “To not have the race I knew I was capable of, is heart-breaking. However, I truly gave it my best and that is all I can do.”
Having claimed a number of firsts for Team New Zealand –– the disappointment in Japan left Jones wanting one more Games, and a swansong in France, but then COVID hit.
Jones caught the virus in March 2022.
She’d already ditched the canoe aspect to concentrate solely on kayak events, which now includes extreme kayak, newly introduced for Paris.
Extreme kayak or kayak cross, is akin to ski/snowboard cross, wherein four kayaks drop into the water from a platform at the same time. A ferocious melee then ensues with each kayak emerging from the spray and then navigating the course the best they can without being barged out of the way by another paddler, and hopefully crossing the finish line first.
Strength is very much a prerequisite for this entertaining addition to the sport, something Jones was struggling to get back.
Slow but sure return to paddling for Luuka Jones
Back officially training for a couple of months having had a break following Tokyo 2020, in 2021, the first race of 2022, in Kawerau, her home patch in the Bay of Plenty, “was a vibe”. “I felt pretty good on the water despite having a bit of a break till the end of the year,” she said.
At the end of April, Jones even posted a jaunty message on social media saying, “It’s that time of year… Off to dodge some poles in Europe. First stop, Paris”.
However, Jones was floundering.
“After getting covid in March, I have really struggled to come back to form. I was starting to get better but after the first week of training in Paris, I started to get more and more fatigued. I feel puffed when doing short efforts on the water and can’t handle intensity.”
After spending time trying to recover in Europe, with the aim of starting the World Cup season in June, Jones instead opted to return to New Zealand.
“In 16 years of travelling to Europe to train and compete, I’ve never had to come home due to injury or illness. This year is the first,” said the disappointed paddler.
Slowly building back into training, Jones took a day-by-day approach to assess what she could handle, hoping to build toward the World Championships at the end of July, but that was not to be.
“Gutted to have missed the World Champs in Augsburg last week, but it was exciting to watch from the other side,” posted Jones alongside a reel of her at her fittest with the caption, “working hard to get back to this”.
Canoe slalom at Paris 2024?
From May to October Jones was unable to do anything more than 20-second intense effort at a time, so heading to the New Zealand National Championships in early October, Jones wasn’t sure what to expect.
She needn’t have worried.
“This means a lot! First race since March and super stoked to put down some good runs on day 1 of nationals. I felt pretty nervous as had no idea how I would feel, or whether my body would handle it... I felt really good, and I would have finished 2nd in the K1 men’s category today,” the last bit posted with a wink emoji.
Jones concluded the post with: “Here’s to the start of the comeback”, followed by two hashtags that encapsulates the journey she’s on: #smallwin #longcovid.