Emilie Fournel
It isn’t surprising that Canadian kayaker Émilie Fournel lists teammate and rival Karen Furneaux among her biggest influences in the sport. Both pack a mighty punch in small body frames and are able to propel themselves among the top female paddlers in the country.
Of course Furneaux, a world champion, needs no introduction as one of Canada’s most successful female paddlers in history. Fournel, 22, already appears on track to match Furneaux’s exploits on the international stage.
Fournel has been paddling for as long as she can remember.
Both her parents competed for Canada on the international stage as well. Her late father Jean Fournel raced at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal and her mother Guylaine competed in the Pan American Championships. Émilie wears one of her father’s national team sweaters when she competes in Canadian qualifiers to bring her luck.
However her first serious sport was gymastics, but injury problems plagued her as a teenager and she transferred her athletic skills to the kayak. While there was a transition period when she switched sports, the strength accumulated from those years in gymanstics and the technique acquired from paddling with her family helped her to climb the national rankings.
Fournel has competed at all three Mazda CanoeKayak Knockout events so far. She says the loves the atmosphere that reigns at the event and the fact that it shows how much fun paddling is. ‘’I always wonder why more Canadians are not into paddling,’’ she said. ‘’This shows that in big cities like Toronto and Montreal there is water everywhere and we should take advantage of that.’’
Last season Fournel and her brother Hughes Fournel were on the same world championship team for the first time. Both would love nothing more than to march side-by-side at the 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremonies.
Contact Lorraine Lafreniere at CKC to add your name to the growing list llafreniere@canoekayak.ca
