Emily Willock has stepped up to Performance Coach at Canoe Racing New Zealand, moving from her role leading the national development programme into direct work with the country’s elite paddlers. The appointment recognises three years of building pathways that have begun to produce real results, culminating in New Zealand’s first Asia Pacific Sprint Cup win in 2026 and a breakthrough junior and U23 World Championship campaign that same year.
Willock joined CRNZ as National Development Coach Lead in 2023 and has spent the intervening period quietly reshaping how young athletes progress toward the high-performance system. Her focus on strengthening connections between grassroots development and elite coaching has shown tangible returns. At the 2026 ICF Junior and U23 World Championships, the New Zealand team recorded one of its most successful campaigns, with a junior gold medal and nine top-10 finishes across the board.
Those results matter because they signal a pipeline working. The Asia Pacific Sprint Cup victory that same year marked the first time New Zealand has claimed the trophy, a milestone in the sprint canoe calendar for the region. Both achievements sit squarely in Willock’s sphere of influence as she shaped how coaches develop talent and how young paddlers are supported through competition.
In her new position, Willock will provide direct coaching to high-performance athletes including Aimee Fisher and Finn Murphy, alongside ongoing strategic work within the daily high-performance environment. CRNZ will soon advertise to fill the National Pathway Lead role she is vacating, plus a newly created Pathway Coordinator position. The moves are designed to maintain momentum in athlete development while freeing Willock to focus on the elite end of the spectrum heading toward the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics and beyond.
