Nils Wikander Karls

“I lived in a small town called Trosa when I grew up and moved to Stockholm when I started high school. Didn’t have many friends that liked training, they just liked to party. I had always been paddling when I grew up, but mostly surfski. Then, my dad told me that there were some people doing dragon boat at the club that I could join! And so I did.

I would say that IDBF world championships in Kunming was one for the books. Dragon boat as a sport is really small in Sweden, so to go to such a big event was really cool!

Also, an embarrassing story from European Club Crew Championships:

It was the Final A in 500m. We passed the finish line and our front row started to scream like we won the race, so everyone in the boat started to celebrate! When we arrived to land, a staffperson says, ‘Never seen a team celebrate a silver medal that much before.’

So, the next time, when we took gold in the 200m, we didn’t celebrate until we were really sure!”

[Nils Wikander Karls (Stockholm, Sweden), paddler on örnsbergs Kanotsällskaps (eaglemoutains) & Swedish national team.]

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