Fabien Lefèvre

Fabien Lefèvre

File:FabienLefevre (french kayak team).jpg Lefèvre in 2005
Personal information
Born	Orléans, France
Medal record Men's canoe slalom Representing France Olympic Games 2008 Beijing K-1 2004 Athens K-1 World Championships 2002 Bourg St.-Maurice K-1 2003 Augsburg K-1 2005 Penrith K-1 team 2006 Prague K-1 team 2010 Tacen C-2 team 2011 Bratislava C-2 team 2005 Penrith K-1 2010 Tacen C-2 2010 Tacen K-1 team 2011 Bratislava C-2 2011 Bratislava K-1 team 2002 Bourg St.-Maurice K-1 team 2011 Bratislava K-1 European Championships 2009 Nottingham K-1 team 2011 La Seu d'Urgell K-1 team Representing United States World Championships 2014 Deep Creek Lake C-1

Fabien Lefèvre (born 18 June 1982) is an American slalom canoeist who has competed since the late 1990s. Fabien competed for France until 2013 when he became a permanent resident of the United States. Competing in two Summer Olympics, he won two medals in the K-1 event with a silver in 2008 and a bronze in 2004.

Lefèvre also won fourteen medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships with seven golds (C-1: 2014, K-1: 2002, 2003; C-2 team: 2010, 2011; K-1 team: 2005, 2006), five silvers (C-2: 2010, 2011; K-1: 2005, K-1 team: 2010, 2011), and two bronzes (K-1 team: 2002, K-1: 2011).

He is the overall World Cup champion in K-1 from 2002. He also won two bronze medals at the European Championships in the K-1 team event.

Career

Fabien Lefevre began kayaking at the age of 5. At the age of 20, he won the K-1 event at the 2002 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in Bourg-Saint-Maurice. He backed up this result by winning the 2002 World Cup title. One year later he was able to defend the K-1 world title in Augsburg.

These victories made him the favorite for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. However, he was only able to capture bronze after touching a gate in both semifinal and final run. He recorded the fastest running time but the 4 penalty seconds pushed him down to third.

At the 2005 World Championships in Penrith, New South Wales he won a silver medal in the K-1 event, losing only to Fabian Dörfler. He won the K-1 team title, however, together with Benoît Peschier and Julien Billaut. He won the K-1 team gold again in 2006, this time joined by Julien Billaut and Boris Neveu. He finished 5th in the individual event in 2006 in a race where two winners were declared by the ICF jury (Julien Billaut and Stefano Cipressi).

In 2007 a serious wrist injury prevented him from taking part at the World Championships in Foz do Iguaçu, won by his compatriot Sébastien Combot.

He regained his place in the French team in 2008 and won the selection for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing by defeating the reigning Olympic champion Benoît Peschier at the French trials. Lefèvre was third after the semifinal run and improved to silver medal position in the final. Benjamin Boukpeti, a friend of Lefèvre, won the first Olympic medal for Togo with a bronze, while Alexander Grimm took gold.

In late 2008, inspired by Michael Phelps, he decided to take up the double canoe discipline (C2) together with Denis Gargaud Chanut, while continuing to race in single kayak (K1) with the ambition to appear in both categories at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Lefèvre failed to medal at the 2009 World Championships in La Seu d'Urgell in either category though. The extreme fatigue he felt after the races made him doubt his project.

However, he continued in both categories in 2010 and ended the year with a silver medal in the C-2 event at the World Championships in Tacen. He also added a gold medal in the C-2 team event and a silver in the K-1 team event. A year later at the 2011 World Championships in Bratislava he made history by becoming the first slalom canoeist since Charles Dussuet in 1953 to win 4 medals at the same Championships.

The success, however, was followed by a disappointment in 2012 after failing to qualify for the Olympics in London in either category.

Nonetheless, after 2012, Fabien moved to the United States and began competing as an American Canoe Slalom Athlete. Fabien began training with the Potomac Whitewater Racing Center (a U.S. Olympic Center of Excellence). As a result, in 2014, at the 2014 Canoe Slalom World Championship in Deep Creek Lake, he won the Gold Medal in C1, becoming the first person to win a World Championship in Men's C1 and Men's K1.

References

• 2010 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships 11 September 2010 C-2 men's final results – accessed 11 September 2010.
• 2010 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships 11 September 2010 C-2 men's team final results. – accessed 11 September 2010.
• 2010 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships 12 September 2010 K-1 men's team final results – accessed 12 September 2010.
• ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships – Part 2: rest of flatwater (now sprint) and remaining canoeing disciplines: 1936–2007.
• Paddling for the USA – accessed 25 April 2014.
• Sports-reference.com profile