After missing Tokyo ticket, whitewater paddler Lois Betteridge ‘over the moon’ to earn Paris Olympics berth

By William Bailey

Lois Betteridge fell in love with the sounds of rushing water from the first time she tried whitewater kayaking at age 11. Now, 15 years later, the Ottawa paddler has followed those waves all the way to the Olympic Games.

The long-awaited day of jubilation came almost a month ago when Betteridge was fastest down the women’s C-1 canoe slalom course in Rio de Janeiro to secure an Olympic berth for her country at the Pan American qualifier.

“I’ve been training and competing for a number of years now, so it was pretty special,” reflects the 26-year-old Ottawa River Runners athlete. “I was going into the race quite confident, but I was also quite confident in the qualifier in 2020 racing for the Tokyo spot and I missed out on that one, so I was a bit apprehensive before this race. But I was also super excited to go and give it my all.”

The U.S. and host Brazil had already secured Olympic tickets through last year’s World Championships, which made Betteridge the favourite to secure the final qualification position in Rio as the top-ranked remaining athlete at #60 in the world.

When Betteridge posted a time of 122.54 seconds in the final, she had a feeling her performance was good enough to qualify for Paris 2024 as soon she crossed the finish line.

“I put together a run that I was really happy with, but I also wanted to stay calm because I didn’t know for sure where I stood,” recounts Betteridge, who wound up with a 4.34-second margin of victory over Colombia’s Carolina Massarenti. “When I saw the results, I was over the moon.”

Betteridge has been in a boat pretty much since birth. Her parents were both excursion guides, and they brought her out in their canoe on Georgian Bay when she was just a few months old.

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Once she got to paddle her own kayak at age 11, her appreciation for the activity grew immensely. Although competing at the Olympics was a goal she held in the back of her mind, Betteridge simply loved going out for a paddle, as well as the idea that she could guide her destiny in the sport.

“It was pretty cool to be in control of your own boat, so I fell in love with kayaking at that point. That’s the thing – it was really about kayaking for many years, not about the Olympics,” explains the Glebe Collegiate Institute grad. “But I guess I was always competing, and it was always the goal to strive for the highest level.”

Betteridge has represented Canada between 2015 and 2023 at 10 world championships – five world seniors, four under-23s and one juniors – as well as two Pan Am Games, where she’s recorded a trio of second-place finishes.

The Egg Farmers of Ontario-sponsored athlete, who is also part of the RBC Olympian program, is a rare breed in the sport since she competes in both the single-bladed canoe discipline as well as the kayak event with a double-sided paddle.

Along with C-1, she’s also preparing to race in the adrenaline-pumping kayak cross event at the Olympics, where four paddlers compete head-to-head on the same course in each heat, similar to ski and snowboard cross in the Winter Olympics.

Betteridge has recently been training in Montgomery, Alabama, where she’s enjoyed the environment alongside U.S. athletes preparing for their Olympic team trials. She’ll be back in Canada for a national event in Valleyfield, QC next month, and training camps in Paris are on the horizon as well before the big show from July 26-Aug. 11.

“Going to the Olympics is one thing, but I will be racing against the top-20 boats in the world,” Betteridge underlines. “We are all there to try our best and see what comes of the race.”