Ifyouwanttogetfrom
AtoBinakayakasfast
as humanly possible,
hitcharideonKen
Wallace’s trusty canoe.
The 190cm power
paddler can slash
through 500m of the
blue stuf in 97 seconds;
that’s a speed of just
under 19km/h. He also
has two Olympic
medals to prove how
damnquickheis—a
gold in the K1 500 and
bronzeintheK11000.
The 32-year-old’s K2
andK41000mteamare
Australia’s big medal
hopesatRio.Here,
Wallace tells MF how
he’s planning to own
thepodiumagain.■How’s your prep
going?
In the weeks leading
intotheOlympicswe
are, you might say,
“sharpening the tools”.Hard kayakka!
■
There’s no faster man with a paddle in his hand than
Gold Coast lifesaver Ken Wallace. Uber-fit and focused,
he’s training his butt off for a tilt at a third straight Olympics.This will consist of very
race-specific distance
andstrokeratepieces
in training. I would be
working on my starts,
nailing that first stroke
and refining my
finishing speed. In my
sport, my kayak will hit
top speed towards the
start of the race and
thenafterthatitisjust
amatterofwhodies
the least towards the
endoftherace.■What kind of
body does a sprint
kayaker need?
Ihaveseenalot
of kayakers, all
shapes and sizes, be
very competitive
although a strong
upper body, long limbs
andastablecoreare
an advantage.■What does your
training regime entail?Pulling exercises —
bench pull, cable pull
and chinups are always
on the program. Plus,
core stability exercises
—situps,legraisesand
swiss ball work. Let’s
notforgetIsitinatiny
kayakaswideasmy
hips, pull my paddle as
hard as I can through
the water while
maintaining balance.
In those first few
strokes we can be
pulling anywhere
between 70-80kg/
stroke and the stroke
rate is just over 2
strokes/second.Once
we get going it comes
down to 30kg /stroke
andjustunder2
strokes /second.■Do you follow
a strict diet?
If I put junk food into
my body before
training or racing, thenagamble—yourisk
everything to be the
best. The only reason
youfeelsadnessis
because once you cross
that finish line, that
particular journey you
took to achieve your
ultimate goal is over.■Where is your gold
medal now?
Iactuallyhaveitinan
Oakley soft sunnies case
—aredcaseforthegold
medalandabrowncase
for the bronze medal. But
it isn’t something I keep
out on the cofee table or
anything. Plus, it would
have gone missing
with my three-year-old
hiding everything!■Who will be your
toughest rivals on the
Rio course?
The most consistent K2
team is the Germans of
Marcus Gross and Max
Rendschmidt — they’re
definitely the ones to
beat.However,the
Serbians, Hungarians,
Slovakians and
Portuguese are also
going to be up there.
In the K4 race the
Hungarians and
Germans are also
strong contenders.■Can you bring home
the gold again?
Idobelievewehavea
chance of taking home
two gold medals. Our
1000mcrewheading
toRioareareallystrong
team and there have
been some consistent
results for the past
few years.■Wallace is an ambassador
for Oakley’s Green Fade
eyewear collection
available in-store from
July at Oakley O Stores,
oakley.com.auIamgoingtotrainor
race like junk. I try
tosticktoplain
simple foods, meat
andlotsofvegetables.
Iavoidexcess
softdrink due to the
sugar content. If I want
to lose a quick kilo, it’s
thesugarIcutdown
on. Luckily for me
with the amount of
trainingIdo,Itendto
stay fairly lean.■Do you use supps?
When my training
volume is huge or
when the food I am
eating in certain
places throughout the
world isn’t giving me
thenutritionIneed
Ialwaysturntosupps.■Describe what
winning gold is like.
There are so many
emotions all at once:
you feel ecstatic,
happy, relieved and
sad at the same
time. Ecstatic, because
youhavefinally
achieved that moment
youhavedreamtof.
Happy, because you
have made your
parentsandfamilyso
proud. Relief, because,
competing at that
level in sport is suchThe Numbers Game
Ken WallaceAge: 32
Lives:Gold Coast
Height:190cm
Weight:90kg
Olympic honours:
2008 — gold medal K1
500m, bronze medal
K1 1000m; 2012 — 4th,
K2 100m●Road to Rio
58 MEN’S FITNESS AUGUST 2016“In those first strokes we
canbepulling70-80kg/
stroke and the stroke rate
is just over 2/second.”