Josephine's Story
Fast Facts
Sport: Canoe – Sprint
Olympic History: Tokyo 2020
Coach: Craig Colduck / Cristi Florian
Year Born: 1996
State Born: South Australia
About Josephine
After watching her brother's enjoyment and subsequent selection for the South Australian Sports Institute's talent identification program, a curious Josephine Bulmer followed him into Kayaking.
Growing up in North Haven, South Australia, Bulmer spent nine years climbing the junior ranks and represented Australia at the 2014 Junior World Championships, where she finished in the top 10 of the K1 and K4 500 metres.
After nine years, and at the recommendation of her coach, Bulmer made the switch to canoe events at the age of 19.
Her switch followed an announcement that canoe racing would make its debut on the women’s schedule at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, with the change in discipline reinvigorating the young athlete and motivating her to push ahead with her ambition to represent Australia at an Olympic games.
Bulmer represented Australia at the 2016 and 2017 World Championships before making her elite debut in 2018 at a World Cup event in Germany; Bulmer secured her first-ever senior final in a C1 200 event.
In 2020, Bulmer wrote sporting history when she and paddle partner Bernadette Wallace secured Australia’s first-ever women’s Olympic Canoe quota spots.
The pair won the C2 500 at the Oceania Canoe Sprint Championships and Bulmer’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic debut was confirmed.
Bulmer competed in both the Women's C-1 200m and Women's C-2 500m alongside Bernadette Wallace, making her debut at the Tokyo Olympic games. In the individual discipline, she would earn an opening time of 53.354, allowing her qualification to the quarter-final of the C-1 200m. With a time of 51.474, she would place 7th in the quarter-final stage, which would not allow her to progress into the finals of the event.
Competing alongside fellow Australian Wallace, the pair would open the C-2 500m event with a time of 2:11.322, allowing progression to the quarter-final. After achieving a similar time in the quarter-final, the pair would not be in contention for medal placements and instead compete in their final race in Final B. They would achieve their best time of the event, with 2:05.698, earning them an overall 13th-placed finish in the C-2 500m.
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