Ashton Reiser | Sport

My name is Ashton Reiser, I am 21 years old and I am a member of the New Zealand Sprint Kayaking team. I initially started my sporting journey in Surf Life Saving and I eventually progressed into kayaking when I was 15 years old. I live in Cambridge and I train on Lake Karapiro, where I pursue my Olympic dream with everything that I’ve got!

My initial drive to try to kayaking came from wanting to meet new people and to try improve my paddling technique. I was also attracted by the fact that sprint kayaking is an Olympic sport and that the results you get out of the sport reflect the amount of energy you put in.

My proudest moment so far was winning my first elite individual NZ and Oceania title in 2019 in the K1 200m at my home base on Lake Karapiro. It was an incredible feeling, I had never even come close to winning an individual event at this level and to do it in front of my family and my supporters is something I’ll never forget! My ultimate goal is to bring home an Olympic gold medal for New Zealand.

My three core values that I aim to stick by no matter what are; honesty, commitment and courage. I believe that these three values are essential for me to get the most potential out of myself, my team and to be the most well rounded person/athlete that I can be. I think that if I can stick to these three values in the most stressful and high-pressure environments, then there is no reason why I cannot achieve all my goals in both sport and in life.

Aside from my sport, I study Ecology and Biodiversity as part of a Bachelor of Science at the University of Waikato. I am aiming to graduate at the end of 2021 and become an environmental consultant.