Noah Havard

As a teenage rugby league player, Noah Havard thought his life as an athlete was over when his physiotherapist told him he would require a shoulder reconstruction because of recurring dislocations – either that or give up playing footy.

Noah, who grew up in the Sydney beachside suburb of Bondi, was a member of the Sydney Roosters Development Squad and on track to play in the NRL. But the shoulder injury forced him to walk away from the sport he had grown up playing.

“I thought I was out of sport after that,” Noah said. “But I had that desire to keep playing sport.”
Fortunately, another opportunity presented itself. Noah’s brother had been doing surf ski paddling and he decided to give it a go. “I started to really love it – being out on the ocean doing a bit of hard work, getting fit, getting strong – and kind of fell in love with the sport since then.”

When Olympic champion Ken Wallace tapped him on the shoulder, it opened his eyes to sprint kayaking.

“Ken was a great role model of mine, I’ve always looked up to him, and he took me under his wing and showed me this kayaking thing,” Noah said. “He opened my eyes to see that it is possible to come from surf ski into kayaking.”

Noah quickly progressed through the ranks and moved from Bondi to the Gold Coast in 2022 to join the Queensland Academy of Sport.

That year he represented Australia at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, World Cups, and Junior and U23 World Championships in the same year, winning a bronze medal as part of the U23 Men’s K4 500.

At the 2023 Canoe Sprint World Cup in Poznan, Poland, Noah teamed up with Pierre van der Westhuyzen, Jackson Collins and Riley Fitzsimmons to win silver in the K4 500m. Shortly afterwards, they finished fourth at the world titles in Duisburg, Germany.

On Olympic debut Noah, with fellow debutants Jackson, Pierre and triple Olympian Riley collected a silver medal in the K4 500m at Paris 2024.

It was nearly gold, as a photo finish with the defending Olympic champions Germany saw them place second by just 0.04 of a second. Not since London 2012 had an Australian men's K4 team won an Olympic medal.

Noah said the hard work and competitive mindset he developed in surf lifesaving has helped him to become the athlete he is today.

“Surf lifesaving gave me a lot of great characteristics – obviously hard work and competitive mindset. I think they are the biggest strengths that I learnt from surf lifesaving,” he said.

“Kayaking involves transferring all that power and energy into technical aspects. That was the change I had to make was how to use your power effectively and be efficient across the water.”

Noah has completed a degree in project management with a construction major at the University of Sydney and plans to work in construction or mining once his paddling career is over.