Britain’s most successful female canoeist Mallory Franklin talks to Rebecca Pitcairn about medals, marriage and messing about on the water in Hertfordshire
Olympic medallist Mallory Franklin was born to be on water. She first stepped into a canoe when she was five-years-old, but the Cheshunt resident showed signs of the determination required to be a world class athlete even earlier.
“I’ve always been a water baby,” she tells me. “My parents regale me with the story that when I was 18 months old I wanted to go on one of those swimming pool inflatable assault courses and the rules were that you had to be able to swim a length of the pool, so I did.”
Growing up with two brothers – she is the middle child of three – meant Mallory was always competitive. The trio grew up in Windsor, close to the River Thames, but their introduction to the world of canoeing came quite by accident.
“My older brother, Zak, was one of those kids that just had a bit too much energy at school and so his teachers encouraged my parents to get him interested in some form of after-school activity, so we all went down to Windsor Leisure Centre to see what was on offer,” the 28-year-old explains. “Nothing really took our fancy, but right next door was Windsor and District Canoe Club and they were having an open day so as we were leaving the centre we popped down to have a look we got to go out on the water and all three of us just adored it.”
Mallory has been hooked ever since and began competing professionally aged 15, winning her first World Cup medal in 2012. “To be honest, I would have paddled had no one been watching, I just loved it,” she admits.
Her career rise has been meteoric. In 2018, Mallory became Great Britain’s most successful female canoeist, winning a record eight individual and three team medals in a season. The year before, she was runner up in the BT Sport Action Woman of the Year. But, the four-time world champion says the pinnacle of her career was winning silver at the 2000 Tokyo Olympics. It was the first time the C1 canoe slalom female class in which she competes had been in included in the Games as part of a drive towards Olympic gender equality. Mallory, who is only the second British woman to win an Olympic medal in canoe slalom after Helen Reeves took bronze in the kayak K1 event in 2004, recorded a time of 108.68 in the final and was beaten only by the world number one, Australia’s Jessica Fox.
“It was my first Olympics, so I didn’t have anything to compare it to and it was a bit of an odd lead up to it, but it was a really cool experience,” she explains of the Tokyo games, which ended up taking place in 2021 instead of 2020 and with little to no audience in the stands due to the coronavirus pandemic. “For me personally and how I respond to environmental pressures, it was probably better that there weren’t any spectators,” she admits.
The pandemic also meant celebrations were subdued. After taking the podium, in Tokyo, Mallory headed to the village food hall. “I just wanted to eat everything I hadn’t been able to [because of training] up to that point,” she jokes, adding that she devoured a whole plate of Japanese Takoyaki (battered squid balls).
There was no mass heroes’ welcome when she arrived home either, although Mallory says that suited her just fine. “It was a quiet homecoming, but I’m not an overly showy person, so it was nice to just have my husband pick me up from the airport with flowers and my favourite food,” she says.
Mallory and fellow canoeist Ciaran moved to Hertfordshire in 2015, settling in Cheshunt, where they bought a home together just a few minutes’ drive from Lee Valley White Water Centre in Waltham Cross, where she trains and he works as a British Canoeing Academy coordinator. The couple, who tied the knot in Shropshire in December 2021, love the county, particularly Hertford, where they enjoy spending downtime together – not that there’s much of it.
“Generally speaking I spend a lot of time training and my husband spends a lot of time working so we’re at Lee Valley a lot, but when we’re not there, we love going to restaurants in Hertford.”
Mallory’s schedule is particularly full on at the moment as she prepares for a number of events, which form part of the selection process for the 2024 Olympic games in Paris, including the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in September.
“A home race is always good, especially in our sport where there’s quite a clear home advantage because the more you spend time on the water, the more you learn it, therefore if you can race on your training venue then you’ll probably be quite well off,” she says. “Of course, that puts extra pressure on because there’s that expectation that we should be winning, but canoeing is an odd sport because there are so many factors that go into a race and you can make a split-second decision and it could all fall apart.”
Mallory admits that in the past she has struggled with the mindset of “being a bit of a perfectionist”, but is becoming better at living in the moment. “I had a bit of lightbulb moment after I won the World Cup because not long after, no one, beyond my family and tight sporting community, really cared,” she reflects. “So, there’s no point pinning all your hopes on getting results – yes you’ll get that instant gratification, but life moves on. It’s the same experience with losses, you learn that life moves on and people forget. I think that has changed my motivation and made me realise how much I’ve grown.”
Although not yet 30, Mallory is mindful her career as a world-class athlete has a relatively short lifespan, which she is pragmatic about, explaining that she would like to go into coaching at some point. But, for now, she is focused on enjoying life doing what she loves.
“Canoe Slalom is a sport that you can try and chase perfection as much as you want but, because you’re dealing with the water and environment, it’s impossible,” she adds. “It’s a constant challenge and you never feel like you’ve completed it. There’s always something in front of you that you can keep chasing.”
Mallory’s Hertfordshire hotspots
- I really like going for walks in Lee Valley Park, we live on the edge so I go for my runs there.
- One of our favourite restaurants, which we’re lucky to live close to in Cheshunt, is Reyna.
- Hertford Cake Co and Tilly’s Gelato are a couple of places we love in Hertford for a real treat.
