Sprint Kayaker, Aaron Small, isn’t the first NAC member or employee to have gone to the Olympics, but he may be the first “Red Shirt” as Billy likes to say!
Aaron grew up in Seattle, Washington just blocks away from the Seattle Canoe & Kayak Club and got into kayaking via a friend when he was just 11 years old. He fell in love with it right away and made a ton of friends through the club.
A young Aaron in a K1
“I spent more time swimming than actually paddling, just because the boats are so unstable,” Aaron said recalling those early years of learning to paddle sprint kayaks. Sprint kayaks are arguably the hardest of the sprint racing crafts – they are long, narrow, and I cannot stress this enough, very unstable! If you would like to humble yourself, try just sitting in one! There are three different sprint kayak crafts: K1 (single), K2 (two person), and K4 (4 person).
Aaron began competing internationally in 2017, participating in Olympic Hopes Regattas and Junior World Championships, then U23 World Championships before moving on to what he called “the Big Dogs” like World Cups and World Championships.
One of Aaron’s higher up results came by racing in a K2 with partner Jonas Ecker. “We qualified for the Pan American Championships, which is the last chance qualifier for the Olympics and you have to win it,” he said, recalling how stressed he was over the high stakes.
The duo did indeed win their race and secured their 2024 Paris Olympic berth in the K2 500m. Aaron said that even securing their spot for the Olympics was surreal. “It was something I had been wanting to do since I started paddling. It was sort of one of those pipe dreams.”
Aaron and Jonas at the Olympics
Aaron and Jonas made it to the finals, and took 8th place, making them the first U.S. men’s kayak team to reach the Olympic finals in 24 years! When I asked him if they had any idea of where they were going to place in their event he said, “Honestly, no. Making the final was a nice cherry on top. Our goal was to just make it there – everything else was extra.”
As part of the Olympic K2 team, Aaron his partner also earned spots to race in the K1 1000m distance.
NAC has a long history with both Olympic and US National Team Canoe & Kayak racers since its inception, as the facility and back bay are a great place to train. One of such paddlers is Greg Barton, a four-time Olympic medalist and founder of Epic Kayaks, who Aaron credits as a reason to come down and start training at NAC.
“I grew up looking up to Greg Barton, and he trained here. A lot of sprint paddlers have trained here in the past,” Aaron said, before smiling and adding, “I also wanted a warm place to train… and my girlfriend is going to the University of Irvine.”
Aaron at NAC
When I asked him why he decided to work at NAC as well as train here, he replied, “It’s (Canoe & Kayak) a pretty small sport in the U.S. so you don’t get a lot of funding. So I just pick up jobs on the side. Plus, I’m here already and I love working here and it’s good to see all the cool community paddlers.”
You’re more likely to find Aaron out on the water training two times a day with the other NAC Canoe & Kayak members (Shout out to Elena, Knightley, Kali, and Robbie!) than wearing a red NAC staff shirt, but when you do see him wish him luck as he trains for the 2028 LA Olympics!