Katie Vincent

Biography

Katie Vincent put her name in the history books at Tokyo 2020 where she was a medallist in the first Olympic Games to include women’s canoe events. She and partner Laurence Vincent Lapointe won the bronze medal in the women’s C-2 500m. Earlier in the Games, Vincent had placed eighth in the women’s C-1 200m final. Just over a month later, Vincent became the world champion in the C-1 200m. It was her first individual world title. 

Following Vincent Lapointe’s retirement, Vincent teamed up with Sloan MacKenzie in the C-2 500m. After finishing sixth at the 2022 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, they won bronze at the 2023 Worlds, securing Canada’s spot in the event for Paris 2024. They followed up by winning gold in the women’s C-2 500m at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games, where Vincent was given the honour of being Team Canada’s Closing Ceremony flag bearer alongside breaker Phil Wizard. At the first ICF World Cup of 2024, Vincent won gold in the C-1 200m and silver with MacKenzie in the C-2 500m. 

Vincent competed at the 2023 World Championships just 12 weeks after breaking her arm in a bike accident, which forced her off the water for more than four weeks. It ended up being her best worlds ever as she also won three gold medals in four hours in non-Olympic events (women’s C-1 500m, mixed C-2 500m, women’s C-1 5000m). That brought her career total to nine world titles. She also won gold in three non-Olympic events (women’s C-1 5000m, women’s C-4 500m, mixed C-2 500m) at the 2022 World Championships in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. 

Vincent made her first appearance for Canada at the 2013 ICF Junior World Championships. The next year she began to show her podium potential, taking C-1 200m gold and C-2 500m at the junior worlds. 

In 2015, Vincent began competing on the ICF World Cup circuit and earned two individual podiums. She also teamed up with Vincent Lapointe for the start of a very successful C-2 partnership, winning two C-2 200m gold medals. Vincent competed at the senior and U23 world championships in 2015, winning C-1 500m silver at the latter. 

In 2016, Vincent earned her first solo World Cup gold, winning the C-1 200m in Duisburg, Germany. She also won the first of her three straight gold medals in the C-1 200m at the U23 World Championships. 

In 2017, Vincent recorded three individual World Cup podiums. At the senior world championships, she and Vincent Lapointe won the gold medal in the C-2 500m after just one World Cup podium in the event that season. 

The following year, Vincent and Vincent Lapointe became a dominant force in the C-2 500m. They won two World Cup gold medals and broke their own world record twice. They also successfully defended their world title in the event. Vincent competed at the worlds while battling shingles and managed to win a C-1 500m bronze as well. 

The duo started the 2019 World Cup season by winning C-2 500m gold in Poznan, Poland where Vincent also won silver in the C-1 200m. Two more silvers came in both events at the World Cup in Duisburg. With Olympic qualification on the line, Vincent finished fifth in the C-1 200m at the 2019 World Championships to secure a quota spot for Canada. But she and Vincent Lapointe were unable to race in the C-2 500m when Vincent Lapointe was provisionally suspended for an out-of-competition doping test that had returned positive in July. Vincent Lapointe was cleared to return to competition in January 2020. 

During the national trials in March 2021, Vincent qualified herself for Tokyo 2020 by winning a C-1 race-off against Vincent Lapointe, taking the third and deciding race by 0.32 of a second. 

A Little More About Katie: 

Starting paddling at age 10, joining a local youth program with her older brother… Began competing at age 16… In the early days she had to use men’s-sized boats and paddles because women’s canoeing was still a developing discipline…Canoeing role model is Mark Oldershaw and loves to ask about and learn from his experiences… Outside Interests: Studying kinesiology at York University… Enjoys finding the coolest cafes at competition locations and traveling during the offseason… Odds and Ends: Nickname: Kitkat… Favourite quote: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit”…