Whitewater slalom is an obstacle course of thrashing water and tight turns. For kayakers and canoers, the goal is to finish the run as fast as possible, without missing or bumping the more than 20 gates scattered throughout the course.
It’s an extraordinarily difficult sport — and one that Evy Leibfarth excels at.
The 22-year-old phenom and Bryson City native took silver in the kayak slalom at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in Oklahoma City on last month. She finished 1.31 seconds behind three-time Olympic champion Jessica Fox of Australia.
Leibfarth became the first American woman since Rebecca Giddens in 2003 to earn a medal at the world championships for kayak slalom. She also competes in canoe slalom and kayak cross. She won a bronze medal for canoe slalom at the 2024 Paris Olympics — and she’s got her eye on the gold medal for the 2028 games.
“It’s definitely going to be a hard goal to achieve, but I'm excited to spend a lot more time building my skills, getting stronger, faster, and just getting better,” she said. “Focusing during my runs over the next couple of years and seeing where that can take me.”
Like many elite athletes, Leibfarth has devoted much of her life to the sport.
“People are like, ‘When did you start kayaking?’ I’m like, ‘I never started. I just always have,’” she laughed.
She got her first kayak, a hot-pink one with a sparkly paddle, when she was four. Her parents, both raft guides, brought her on the river often. By the time she was eight, she had mastered the ability to combat roll, or flip upside down safely, and was competing in slalom.
As a young, ambitious paddler from western North Carolina, Leibfarth had plenty of role models. She grew up in a Nantahala paddling community that has sent more than 20 athletes to the Olympics. It’s an environment that made the idea competing in the Olympics seems realistic, Leibfarth said.
“I just grew up surrounded by these incredibly motivated, well-rounded athletes who taught me that you had to work hard to be an athlete — but it's absolutely doable,” she said. “I guess I never questioned that I could do it. I just always had everyone around me telling me that I could go to the Olympics.”
Leibfarth’s paddling career now takes her all over the world. She currently lives in Charlotte where she trains at the Whitewater Center, but she returns to Bryson City often to see her parents – and to visit La Dolce Vita Bakery.
“They have this bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich that is just my favorite thing in the entire world. So, I like to go there with my mom and just talk about what's been happening in our lives,” she said.
Whenever she’s back home, she also takes some time to paddle with her dad.
“My dad's my coach all year around, but he usually coaches me from the shore. But when I'm home, he paddles with me on the water, so that's always pretty special.”
