The lure of competing at an Olympics in front of a home crowd can lead athletes to do extraordinary things.
Some prolong their careers. Others change sports to give themselves one last chance of appearing at one of the biggest sporting spectacles on the planet.
But overwhelmingly the most common knock-on effect for a country which hosts an Olympics is a sharp rise in the number of people competing, or striving to compete, at an elite level.
Japan experienced it before Tokyo. France is going through it now ahead of Paris next year. And the USA, where the 2028 Games will be held in Los Angeles, is seeing good numbers in most Olympic sports.
Including canoe sprint, where one of the biggest American teams for many years is this week competing at the ICF Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Cup in Szeged, Hungary. The team is predominantly made up of young paddlers who are competing with one eye looking firmly at LA.
Aaron Small is one of the new members of the senior USA canoe sprint team. On Thursday he had his first hit out, in a heat of the men’s K1 500.
“There was a pretty stiff cross wind out there, but I made it through to the semi-final, which feels pretty good at my first international K1,” Small said.
“It was pretty nerve-wracking, trying to get that first race over. I didn’t sleep much last night.”
21-year-old Small came to Szeged with solid U23 form. In 2022, on the same course, he won bronze alongside Jonas Ecker in the U23 K2 500. There was also PanAmerican gold in the same boat.
He is certainly no novice. He began paddling at the Seattle Canoe and Kayak Club in Washington when he was just 11, through a “friend of a friend”.
“Last year was a real breakthrough for me, winning a medal at the U23’s,” he said.
“Canoe sprint is really picking up in the States. We’ve had a lot of really strong showings from all the athletes.”
On Friday he found himself among some of the biggest names in world kayaking, but is not daunted by the task ahead. And he knows that with a home Olympics only five years away, and with the gold-medal winning success of Nevin Harrison in Tokyo, its only going to get tougher.
“That was a very impressive feat, it definitely gave the sport some traction in the US for sure,” Small said.
“LA is definitely a big factor, a lot of inspiration is coming out from the US to do well. The support hasn’t been super great, but it’s starting to pick up now that a lot of US athletes are getting good results.”
