British paddler Beth Forrow is aiming to cap off a comeback year with success at the Canoe Slalom World Championships in Australia.
Forrow missed the 2024 season due to the birth of her first child, Rowan, but has been delighted with her return this year.
The British team have been training down under for two weeks and look to be in fine form as the Championships in Penrith commence.
Forrow said: “I’ve tried really hard this year to find opportunity for learning and growth within every race – in every wrong and right moment.
“A little bit of perspective will help keep my expectations at a nice level. My goals that I’ve set for next year are to make more finals and to push to the podium.
“It’s all been about my progression and growth towards the Olympics. It’s the first cycle that I’ve been really, really excited about.”
Forrow may have been absent from Paris 2024, but she is remarkably experienced on the international circuit for a 24-year-old.
A gold medal in Slovenia at the 2021 U23 World Championships followed a team gold at both the 2018 World and European Games.
Alongside her in that 2018 trio were Olympic individual medallists Kimberley Woods and Mallory Franklin.
Forrow said: “I can honestly say that was my best year in success, but my scariest by far.
“Kim and Mal were the reigning World Champions three times in a row. They were the people that I watched growing up.
“There was such a pressure of ‘we want to retain this’.”
For the first time, though, the Cheshunt native noticed others looking up to her when Penrith schools travelled to the event.
She said: “We’ve often had interactions with some of the girls and the boys that are around the centre, asking you questions.
“It’s pretty cool that I’m actually somebody that they would look up to now.
“Stepping back in after having my little boy, I just didn’t think that I would be somebody that people looked up to.
“There were so many other people that I thought were incredibly talented that it just never really dawned on me. I think I was still in awe of other people as well.”
Forrow’s new status as a sporting role model feels a far cry from her humble beginnings in the sport.
As part of the London 2012 Olympics legacy program, she was invited to the Lee Valley White Water Centre with no previous canoeing experience.
Forrow said: “A lot of people who get into canoeing are people that have been born into it. It’s quite a niche sport to get into.
“We were scouted through the school, but I had no idea The Lee Valley Centre was literally on my doorstep.
“I had tried every single sport – I always felt my life was always destined to be in sport.”
The centre was constructed to host canoe and kayak events at the London Games, opening in 2010.
It hosted the 2015 and 2023 editions of the World Championships, which take place annually with the exception of Olympic years.
This year will be the second time Penrith has hosted the championships, two decades on from its first.
However, home hero Jess Fox will not be participating, as she continues to recover from surgery on a kidney tumour in August.
The 31-year-old’s 22 World Championship and six Olympic medals mark her out as arguably the greatest female paddler of all time, and she will be conspicuous by her absence.
Three-time Olympic champion Jessica Fox of Australia has withdrawn from the 2025 ICF Slalom World Championships in Penrith
— Everything canoe, kayak, and SUP (@PlanetCanoe) September 11, 2025
She recently underwent kidney surgery and we are wishing her a speedy recoveryhttps://t.co/oWGd2oUNfO pic.twitter.com/5QG3kPYlPe
Meanwhile, Team GB’s Franklin and Woods are third and fifth on the all-time list, respectively.
Woods is aiming to add to her 13 World Championship medals, but Franklin will be watching on from home, having taken some time out for the birth of her first child.
The Tokyo 2020 silver medallist said: “This year’s world championships are likely to be a really exciting event.
“The course in Sydney has so much history and all the athletes are very excited to get to race there.
“We have some really strong boats within the GB team and hopefully we’ll come home with some medals.”
The Championships began on 29 September with the men’s and women’s kayak cross, and run until 4 October.
Featured image: Maxwell via Flickr
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