Canoe slalom Podium Technical Coach Craig Morris is leaving Paddle UK after 20 years of coaching. During this time, his protégés have achieved tremendous success at all major international competitions and Championships, including the Olympic Games.
Overseeing three athletes to win four Olympic medals at the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Games, Craig has successfully coached across all three canoe slalom disciplines of kayak, canoe, and the new Olympic discipline kayak cross.
He led Mallory Franklin, Adam Burgess, and Kimberley Woods to their Olympic debuts at Tokyo 2020, and worked with Mallory to win her silver medal in the inaugural individual women's canoe event. Craig Morris then played a key role in the record-breaking success at Paris 2024, coaching Kimberley Woods to double bronze in the women's kayak and kayak cross, and Adam Burgess winning his men's canoe silver in the French capital.
His innovative approaches to motivate and engage athletes, alongside working with external partners to seek best practice has been hugely significant in his success. “Paddlesport has been a massive part of my life,” Craig said. “Looking back now on a 20-year coaching career, I’m really grateful for what paddling, particularly coaching, has brought to me. I started coaching at 23 and I’m now in my 40s. It's always been a pivotal part of who I am. I owe a massive amount of my coaching development to Kimberley Woods, Adam Burgess and Mallory Franklin, but not just those three. To their support teams, coaching colleagues and other athletes I have been fortunate enough to be invited on their journey to support. For Mal, Kim and Adam, it’s rare a coach gets the length of term of relationship that I’ve been able to have. “It's been a privilege to work with them, to observe their growth as people and to see them all achieve at the highest levels of this sport. I feel very fortunate for the time we have had,” said upon his departure.
His athletes did not only excel at the Olympic Games, but also at World and European Championships. In 2017, he worked with Mallory Franklin as she won her first canoe World title in Pau. At the 2023 World Championships, he coached Kimberley Woods to her first global title as she claimed gold in the kayak cross.
Source: https://paddleuk.org.uk/craig-morris-set-to-leave-paddle-uk-after-olympic-success/