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Joseph '19 Paddles Toward Olympic Dreams
Top-ranked kayaker takes a gap year in hopes of a podium pay-off.
Joshua Joseph ’19 grew up in the bend of the Potomac River and next door to Olympic kayakers from around the world – a confluence that set him on the path to his own goal of representing the United States in slalom kayaking at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
To do this, he’s taking a gap year from college, training at home and abroad for what may be the ultimate competition of his kayaking career.
“I know I have the ability; it’s just about training hard enough this year and putting down a good race on that day, and that will make all the difference,” Joseph said.
Joseph is ranked no. 1 in the United States and no. 3 in the world among junior K1 mens kayakers. Among kayakers of all ages, he is ranked no. 2 in the country.
Joseph got his start paddling with his father. When he was six or seven, a club kayaking coach invited him to try paddling with a team – “I’ve been hooked since,” he said.
When he was 13, Joseph traveled abroad for his first international competitions, European Cup races in Slovenia and Germany. He medaled the following year in a U14 European Cup race, a moment that inspired him to compete for a place on podiums around the world.
“I had that feeling of winning, that feeling that drives you to want it more,” Joseph said. “I think [competing] is more in my nature – if I want to do something, I want to do the best.”
He made the junior national team for the first time when he was 15, which exposed him to expert coaching and training at an early age. Only the top three junior K1 mens kayakers in the country are selected for the team, and Joseph has made the cut every year since.
He qualified for the senior national team in the spring, opening up more racing opportunities. This past summer, Joseph competed in the International Canoe Federation (ICF) Canoe Slalom World Cup at Tacen, Slovenia, the ICF Junior Canoe Slalom World Championships in Kraków, Poland, and the Pan American Games in Lima Peru, where he earned a silver medal in the men’s extreme slalom (K1) race.
All these achievements bring him closer toward his lifelong goal of going to the Olympics, he said. Over the next seven months, Joseph will focus on his technique so he can be smoother on the white water while also emphasizing cardio and strength training. His training regime includes sprint intervals and loops up and down the river “at 95 %” to prepare for the 90-second Olympic trials in April and May.
Joseph is aware of how this high level of training can exhaust him physically and mentally, so he is taking steps to stay motivated, such as traveling to Australia and New Zealand for his winter training.
“There are times when I’m really driven to be as good as I can be, and there are some times when I feel a little burnt out,” Joseph said. “I think it comes and goes with the time and the season. In the summer when you’re racing and competing, it’s really easy to enjoy it and really push as well as you can. But when it’s the middle of the winter and you don’t have a competition for another three or four months and it’s cold and you’re in the water, you start doubting if you really want to do this.
“I try to think to the summer – I won’t have as good of a time in the summer if I don’t do the hard work now in the winter.”
Unlike other international competitions where three boats are selected to represent a nation, only the top boat in the country will go to the Olympics. He’s already imagined what it would be like to paddle in Tokyo and be like one of the people he knows, including his neighbors and fellow kayakers, who’ve done it.
“Always in my head it’s been my main goal to go to the Olympics,” Joseph said. “I’ve known so many people who have reached that goal, and it’s not changed their lives, but it’s impacted their lives really beneficially.”
As he reaches for his goal, he doesn’t see his gap year as a risk.
“I think that if I had just gone straight to college, I would have risked having to live with the regret of not giving it a shot,” he said.
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To do this, he’s taking a gap year from college, training at home and abroad for what may be the ultimate competition of his kayaking career.
“I know I have the ability; it’s just about training hard enough this year and putting down a good race on that day, and that will make all the difference,” Joseph said.
Joseph is ranked no. 1 in the United States and no. 3 in the world among junior K1 mens kayakers. Among kayakers of all ages, he is ranked no. 2 in the country.
Joseph got his start paddling with his father. When he was six or seven, a club kayaking coach invited him to try paddling with a team – “I’ve been hooked since,” he said.
When he was 13, Joseph traveled abroad for his first international competitions, European Cup races in Slovenia and Germany. He medaled the following year in a U14 European Cup race, a moment that inspired him to compete for a place on podiums around the world.
“I had that feeling of winning, that feeling that drives you to want it more,” Joseph said. “I think [competing] is more in my nature – if I want to do something, I want to do the best.”
He made the junior national team for the first time when he was 15, which exposed him to expert coaching and training at an early age. Only the top three junior K1 mens kayakers in the country are selected for the team, and Joseph has made the cut every year since.
He qualified for the senior national team in the spring, opening up more racing opportunities. This past summer, Joseph competed in the International Canoe Federation (ICF) Canoe Slalom World Cup at Tacen, Slovenia, the ICF Junior Canoe Slalom World Championships in Kraków, Poland, and the Pan American Games in Lima Peru, where he earned a silver medal in the men’s extreme slalom (K1) race.
All these achievements bring him closer toward his lifelong goal of going to the Olympics, he said. Over the next seven months, Joseph will focus on his technique so he can be smoother on the white water while also emphasizing cardio and strength training. His training regime includes sprint intervals and loops up and down the river “at 95 %” to prepare for the 90-second Olympic trials in April and May.
Joseph is aware of how this high level of training can exhaust him physically and mentally, so he is taking steps to stay motivated, such as traveling to Australia and New Zealand for his winter training.
“There are times when I’m really driven to be as good as I can be, and there are some times when I feel a little burnt out,” Joseph said. “I think it comes and goes with the time and the season. In the summer when you’re racing and competing, it’s really easy to enjoy it and really push as well as you can. But when it’s the middle of the winter and you don’t have a competition for another three or four months and it’s cold and you’re in the water, you start doubting if you really want to do this.
“I try to think to the summer – I won’t have as good of a time in the summer if I don’t do the hard work now in the winter.”
Unlike other international competitions where three boats are selected to represent a nation, only the top boat in the country will go to the Olympics. He’s already imagined what it would be like to paddle in Tokyo and be like one of the people he knows, including his neighbors and fellow kayakers, who’ve done it.
“Always in my head it’s been my main goal to go to the Olympics,” Joseph said. “I’ve known so many people who have reached that goal, and it’s not changed their lives, but it’s impacted their lives really beneficially.”
As he reaches for his goal, he doesn’t see his gap year as a risk.
“I think that if I had just gone straight to college, I would have risked having to live with the regret of not giving it a shot,” he said.
St. Andrew’s Episcopal School is a private, coeducational college preparatory day school for students in preschool (Age 2) through grade 12, located in Potomac, Maryland.