Singaporean kayaker Stephenie Chen targets Asian Games gold

SINGAPORE – National kayaker Stephenie Chen has five SEA Games gold medals, an Asian Games silver and at the Paris Olympics last August, she became the first Singaporean kayaker to make an Olympic C final.

She eventually finished seventh out of eight in the women’s canoe sprint K1 500m Final C.

Yet, Chen feels that she has not reached her maximum potential.

During her six-week post-Olympic break, she travelled to China, Malaysia, Indonesia and South Korea, before heading back to Australia in November to resume training. And the 33-year-old plans to keep going.

She said: “My coach felt like he needed to leave it up to me to decide what my next goal would be and how I wanted to approach it. The reason why I’m continuing is that I feel like I still have room for improvement.

“I want to be able to see where I get or how far I get, racing fearlessly. In this sport, there’s always something to improve, whether it’s fitness, technique, or my race plan and that constant challenge keeps me showing up and pushing to get better each season.”

Despite wanting to race fearlessly, Chen noted that did not mean she was competing with fear previously. The pressure of preparing for back-to-back major events like the Asian Games in 2023 and the Paris Olympics made her very goal-oriented, leading to moments of self-doubt, she explained.

“I still had really good races at the Asian Games and Paris. But I had lot of self-doubt in my capabilities as a paddler. I could work a bit on my confidence,” said Chen, who spoke to The Straits Times from Poznan, Poland, where she is preparing for the International Canoe Federation Sprint World Cup from May 22 to 25.

“I did as well as I could have