Ricarda Funk – life lessons from the river Ahr 

Honed in the ebb and flow of life from lessons learned navigating the ways of the river since childhood, canoe slalom athlete Ricarda Funk was philosophical about her first paddle of the 2023 World Cup season.

“I was in a flow – I just couldn’t keep the flow until the finish line,” said the world and Olympic kayak slalom champion, after coming fifth at her home race in Augsburg, Germany on 2 June.

Funk next competes in Ljubljana-Tacen, Slovenia, from 15-18 June in the third race of the series.

“A few centimetres off the line & the water pushes you in the wrong direction … & suddenly centimetres turn into metres and the time is running away.”

Having grown up near the water, this feeling is not new to the German paddler.

As a little child, she paddled on the river Ahr alongside her brother and father, confronted daily with the enormous power of the water, which she would watch transfixed.

Things haven’t changed much.

Ahead of the race in Augsburg, Funk posted: “I don’t only spend hours & hours on the water, but also on the river bank! Water is the most adaptable substance in the world, it never moves in the same way, nor does it stop flowing. Thus, analysing properly is particularly important for me. Every course walk starts with these questions: How is the surface tension? Is the water mirrorlike & calm or bubbly & wild? How does the water behave?”

The second World Cup a week later was more successful for the 31-year-old, courtesy of a runner-up finish in Czechia.

“Super happy I got to experience another great final in Prague. The course, the speakers, the crowd - simply the best,” posted an exuberant Funk on social media.

A devastating loss

This joy for her sport started young. On a return home in March 2021, four months before her Olympic triumph in Japan, Funk headed back to her roots for a reset.

“Always love to come back here, where I was twirling around and chasing the clock as a little girl. You don’t need anything extreme to work on skills. Just intention & persistence.”

Persistence she most certainly had, even at an early age.

She grew up in Remagen and Bad Breisig, where the rivers Ruhr and Ahr were almost on her doorstep but not particularly suitable for canoe slalom. There was no official training course, so the trio would set up and dismantle the gates every day to practice.

Not only that, but weekends often revolved around competitions that took place all over Germany. "I think if I hadn't had so much fun, I don't know if we would have managed to put in this huge effort every weekend," Funk told Olympics.com.

That early effort looked to have paid off when Funk almost made the London 2012 Olympic team. When Rio 2016 came around, Funk was a medal favourite. However, after imploding at the final selection competition she just missed the cut for the Brazil Games, too. She was devastated.

But worse was to come. Much worse.

At the Rio Games, Germany’s canoe slalom coach Stefan Henze died as a result of head injuries sustained in a car crash leaving the team stunned.

“It still doesn't get into my head what happened and still makes me very sad,” said Funk. “Even today, we all realise that there is simply a gap that cannot be closed."

Triumph and disaster for Ricarda Funk and her beloved river

The following year Funk became world number one, and fifth place at the World Championships in La Seu d'Urgell, Spain in 2019, was enough to secure qualification for Tokyo 2020. Funk finally gained her Olympic spot.

However, with her lifelong dream within reach, a year-long delay to the Games due to the global pandemic was announced, tempering her excitement. Would it ever happen?

When she finally did make it to the startline, despite the pressure of having missed two potential Games’ appearances, despite the extra 12 months’ wait to compete, Funk made no mistake, literally, performing an error-free run on the Kasai Canoe Slalom Course to claim the women’s kayak slalom title.

“#tokyo2020 what a delightful treasure!” she posted on returning home describing the spectator-less Games as she maybe would a river: “Simultaneously silent & thrilling vibrant.”

Sadly, more devastation awaited Funk when she returned home. Weeks before her Olympic triumph, more than 200 people lost their lives in flooding that struck communities across western Germany and eastern Belgium with more than 130 lives lost in the Ahr valley itself.

“It broke my heart to see the damaged Ahrtal in person. The destructive power of water clearly left its mark.”

Ricarda Funk title defence at Paris 2024?

Funk’s rollercoaster Olympic journey continues. With just 13 months until Paris 2024 begins, time is ticking with athletes honing their form and Olympic qualification ratcheting up the tension.

Following the Ljubljana-Tacen World Cup, the series breaks for the European Games taking place from 21 June to 2 July in Krakow, Poland.

Canoe slalom and canoe cross make their debut at the multi-sport competition, with the additional tantalising goal of a continental quota place awarded for Paris 2024 to the winner of the men’s and women’s events in C1 (individual canoe slalom) and K1 (individual kayak slalom). The 2023 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships from 19-24 September at Lee Valley in the UK, sits between the final two World Cups of the season, with additional Olympic qualification places to be secured.

With just one spot available per National Olympic Committee in each discipline of kayak slalom, canoe slalom and extreme kayak – the latter will hold its own qualification event – the qualification for an Olympic place is a journey in itself.

Something Funk knows only too well.

2023 Canoe slalom schedule

1-4 June Augsburg, Germany 1/5
8-11 June Prague, Czechia 2/5
15-18 June Ljubljana-Tacen, Slovenia 3/5
29 June – 2 July 2023 European Games, Krakow, Poland
31 August – 3 September La Seu D Urgell, Spain 4/5
19-24 September 2023 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships, Lee Valley, UK
5-8 October World Cup Final Vaires-Sur-Marne, France 5/5