Sam Leaver’s rise through the kayak cross ranks has been fueled by meticulous preparation, with the 21-year-old recording lessons, ideas, and observations in a journal as he targets World Championship gold in Oklahoma.
Whether it is a training tip from a competitor or a thought on his latest performance, you can guarantee it will be written in Sam Leaver’s journal. And come July, the 21-year-old from Edinburgh will hope to be documenting how it feels to be crowned World Champion.
Leaver burst onto the senior circuit in 2025, winning the overall kayak cross individual World Cup title, and is now aiming for gold at the upcoming World Championships in Oklahoma City. Throughout it all, Leaver’s learnings have been scribbled down and his race preparation is meticulous.
“I'm quite a reflective person, so I end up thinking about things a lot, but I find that things come and go if I don't write them down or kind of keep them somewhere,” he explained. “I find when I write a thought down it sticks with me and I’m able to come back to it. Then I can add it into a training idea.”
“I was watching some of the top athletes in training, some things that they're doing in their training sessions, how composed they are, ways that they're attacking performances at different parts of the season.”
“I also have conversations with them and understand what they're doing in training to work on those little bits. I'm making notes on it, writing it down and then come the end of the year, I’m able to put it all into a plan.”
His first season on the senior circuit for kayak cross in 2025 saw his pen put to good use, with lots of medals to write about. Leaver won his first senior KX World Cup final gold in Augsburg last year as well as a further three World Cup medals in 2025, along with European Championship bronze.
“I was waiting on the opportunity [to move to senior] for a while so I was raring to go. The results I got from that were probably a little bit better than I expected,” he said. “I was really happy come the end of the year, especially finishing off with the World Cup final in Augsburg, winning my first World Cup, winning the World Cup overall in time trial.”
“It couldn't have gone much better towards the end, but then there was also lots of stuff that I learned from in terms of being in the senior environment and a few mistakes that I make that you get really punished for at senior level.”
But while Leaver might be reflective in nature, he is not one to sit on his success. He will instead move on to diagnosing and fixing those mistakes with the next goal soon looming on the horizon. It is his journalling that proves most useful, leaving the past in the past but taking what can guide his next steps with him.
The Arsenal-supporting Scot, who won World Cup kayak cross individual gold in Tacen in May, has had plenty to celebrate this year, but being able to journal about a world title, Premier League and World Cup knockouts would be the cherry on the top.
“In kayak cross, I want to win the World Championships. I feel like that's my level. That's what I'm capable of,” he asserted.
“It would be a real summer to remember, 2026, if Scotland make it to the knockout stages, Arsenal have won the league and then I have a good time in Oklahoma. It’s difficult to ask for much more.”
If all that comes to fruition, there may only be one regret scrawled in his journal.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t get to the Arsenal celebrations, because I had a big training session the next night but now thinking about it I kind of regret it,” he admitted. “But I had World Cups coming up so maybe I wouldn't have done so well at those World Cups if I didn't stay focused on the training. That’s one of the sacrifices you have to make.”
“I was only a 30-minute tube ride away from the parade. I would have loved to go, but I feel like I had to kind of make the smart decision in that moment.”
Paddle UK is the national governing body for canoeing, kayaking and all other paddle sports. For more information, visit paddleuk.org.uk.
