Leadership is not a rank, but acting on what is required in any given moment. It is having skin in the game.
As a former international paddler, I could see that the conditions yesterday were not optimal for racing. On Saturday, I spoke to a member of the competition committee and asked them to be stricter in controlling competitors who were warming up next to the race course while a race was in progress. Yesterday, before the K1, KL and Va’a finals, I noticed that there were still no measures in place to control the traffic.
So, I jumped into a K1 and paddled to the warm-up area to make sure that nobody was sprinting and creating additional waves. All the athletes I encountered were respectful of their fellow competitors. Obviously, my main concern was for the athletes from my team, but hopefully this small action made the conditions a little less bumpy and fairer for everyone.
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📸 Thanks @garry_bowden for capturing these moments so beautifully!
EKAITZ SAIES 
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