Paddlecast

How to be fast and win medals with Olympic coach Ekaitz Saies

22 Jan 2026

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2024 brought some of the highest highs and lowest lows for Britain’s international sprint kayak racing programme. The high: it was Team GB’s most successful Paralympics ever with a record 8 medals. The low: for the first time ever, not a single GB athlete qualified to race canoe sprint at the Paris Olympics.So in January 2025, Paddle UK brought on Ekaitz Saies. Ekaitz raced internationally for Spain for 15 years, won world titles in 2009 and 2011, earned a PhD in Sport Psychology, and coached Spanish Olympic athletes to unprecedented success before moving to the UK. In August, he officially stepped into his new role as Paddle UK Performance Director for Paracanoe and Canoe Sprint. In other words: he’s the person in charge of making sure GB is well represented in Los Angeles in 2028.There’s a lot of pressure on Ekaitz to turn things around for non-para sprint in the UK, but with his background in sport psychology and culture-first approach to performance, he seems well-equipped to rise to the challenge. When he first started at Paddle UK, the cultural differences (paddling culture – going from paella to beans on toast is a whole other thing) were the first thing that stood out.“One of the first things was to try and create a better connection between the world class programme and the community… I didn’t feel there was a healthy environment to really strive for excellence.” Ekaitz delves into differences in everything from how the calendar is managed (how many people are involved, having different committees for different disciplines), to the typical length of races, how many people are usually in a training group, professionalisation of coaching, and why the best paddlers in the world change their technique when the go from sprint to marathon and vice versa.What can fans expect from Team GB in 2026? Keep your eyes on that women’s K4, because Ekaitz thinks they have that magical chemistry and more potential than GB has ever had on the women’s side. But 2026 will also bring new challenges, and not just for Team GB. The Olympic qualification system for LA is changing to be based on the ICF’s World Rankings. It means that World Cups have suddenly just become much more important, and there’s a third World Cup this year in Canada. The team is moving to a periodised approach with multiple peaks, and will feel more pressure to perform earlier in the season. For some less well-funded teams or teams with longer flights needed to travel to Europe/Canada, the higher costs might also mean bringing a smaller squad of only the top athletes. The level of competition at the World Cups will be higher, but participation rates may be lower.To hear more from Ekaitz, you can follow him on Instagram at @ekaitzsaies, and order his new book The Champions Mindset from foxperformance.co.uk. Check out The Paddle Games at https://www.instagram.com/paddle_games.#olympics #canoesprint #teamgb #performancepaddling https://foxperformance.co.uk/product/the-champions-mindset-book 00:23 Introduction of Ekaitz02:01 What is the Performance Director role?03:40 Paddling culture differences moving from Spain to the UK24:57 GB potential, success & achieving stretch goals in 202529:27 2026 goals & new challenges with the Olympic qualification system36:08 100% Physical, 100% Mental: The role of sport psychology in winning45:20 The Champions Mindset49:09 The Paddle Games56:08 Billy & Betsy debrief on the conversation with Ekaitz

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13:00H | 21 DIC 2025 | Fin de Semana

01 Jan 1970

Fin de Semana

10:00H | 21 DIC 2025 | Fin de Semana

01 Jan 1970

Fin de Semana

12:00H | 20 DIC 2025 | Fin de Semana

01 Jan 1970

Fin de Semana

2ª PARTE | 06 ENE 2026 | EL PARTIDAZO DE COPE

01 Jan 1970

El Partidazo de COPE

3ª PARTE | 22 ENE 2026 | EL PARTIDAZO DE COPE

01 Jan 1970

El Partidazo de COPE

3ª PARTE | 04 MAR 2026 | EL PARTIDAZO DE COPE

01 Jan 1970

El Partidazo de COPE

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Paddlecast

How to be fast and win medals with Olympic coach Ekaitz Saies

This episode hasn't been transcribed yet

Other recent transcribed episodes

13:00H | 21 DIC 2025 | Fin de Semana

10:00H | 21 DIC 2025 | Fin de Semana

12:00H | 20 DIC 2025 | Fin de Semana

2ª PARTE | 06 ENE 2026 | EL PARTIDAZO DE COPE

3ª PARTE | 22 ENE 2026 | EL PARTIDAZO DE COPE

3ª PARTE | 04 MAR 2026 | EL PARTIDAZO DE COPE

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