Did you always want to be a professional athlete.? “I’ve always been really sporty. At school I had a friend who asked me if I wanted to try canoeing and to be honest I didn’t really like it at first but my Dad pushed me to give it more of a go and then I started competing, getting better, and just ended up where I am now.

Being on Team GB do you have a strict diet?

“Yeah, in my sport it’s important to be both light and powerful at the same time. So I try to cut out carbs as much as I can. Then get the pro-tein in and a tiny amount of carbs so I can actually do the training and burn them off. I eat a lot of fruit for vitamins and to stop myself from getting ill. It’s important for me as an athlete to eat well and get lots of rest as well and prevent injury”

Can you snack?

“I do snack but on the right things, like nuts”

Do you get cheat days?

“I do get cheat days as I train 6 days a weak. I normally have Saturdays as my cheat day and have Sundays off then try and get back to normal by Monday...I try not to drink too much for the sake of my immune system, but I treat myself to a drink every now and then to stay on a level and give myself time to chill out”

What other passions did you have growing up and what other career paths do you think you could have taken to if you didn’t pursue athletics?

“I always like outdoorsy stuff, I thought about joining the army at one point because I liked running around. I’ve always enjoyed being physically active.”

So you’re a natural sportsman?“Yeah I’ve always been very active in sports”

What is your top tip during your workout regimes? Is it diet, is it a specific pro-gram?

“I think it’s something easy to stick to. A lot of people come up with these dif-ficult programs that are hard to follow that they’ll do once and never want to do again. You want to come up with something that is intense that is short and achievable and do it regularly and routinely with all your proper eating around that”

So you’re now modelling! How does the fashion world compare with the sports world?

“Yeah, I’ve been doing a bit of modelling. There’s a lot of distractions in the mod-elling world, which obviously come into play with the more exposure I get, but at the end of the day, I am an athlete and I have to focus on that and just have fun along the way.”

What is a side of you that nobody sees, or is there a side that nobody sees?

“I try to be as open as I can with everyone I meet and try and be myself. I guess the side that most people that aren’t athletes don’t see is probably my competitive side. I’m very competitive in the sports world but when I’m out of that I just try and get on like everyone else.”

Do you think there’s a magic formula for success?

“For anyone just set out the goals you want to achieve and step by step give yourself smalls goals to reach and keep plugging away”

Photography - Nik PateStylist/Label - Mark Thomas TaylorGrooming - Sophie CoxInterview - Mark Thomas Taylor

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