Daniel Watkins

Fast Facts

Sport: Canoe Slalom
Event: C1
Olympic History: Tokyo 2020
Highlights: Making the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Team
Coach: Robin Jeffery C1/Julien Billaut K1
Year Born: 1995
State Born: Tasmania

About Daniel

Growing up in Grove, Tasmania, Daniel Watkins first picked up the paddle in 2007 when he was 11.

His parents would watch him paddle at the beach and thought it would be worth the youngster learning how to canoe and kayak properly.

They enrolled him in the Derwent Canoe Club beginners program, where he began competing in both the C1 and K1 classes and has remained with the club ever since.

He made his Junior National debut in 2011 at the Pre-World Championships before contesting the U23 classes from 2014.

Watkins only began competing as a senior in 2019, and although no longer a beginner, at 24 he made his Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020. 

The Tasmanian secured the C1 Tokyo 2020 spot after nabbing bronze at the 2020 Australian Open Canoe Slalom, his first podium finish at the event, which doubled as the final Olympic Canoe Slalom selection round.

He finished ahead of Rio 2016 Olympian Ian Borrows to lock in his Olympic debut.

Making his Olympic debut at the delayed 2020 Tokyo games, Daniel competed in the C-1 Canoe Slalom. 

Watkins would close out the preliminaries of the event ranked 10th, with a time of 103.07 in his second run. This would enable his progression into the semi-final of the competition, where he would achieve his best run of the event of 101.28, placing him in the silver medal position. Unfortunately, he would not be able to better his time in the final, achieving a run of 108.18, finishing the competition in 9th place overall.