How a Western N.C. canoeist ended Team USA’s decades-long medal drought at Paris Olympics

Bryson City’s Evy Leibfarth is an Olympic medalist.

The 20-year-old, who trains in Charlotte, won bronze in women’s canoe single slalom at the Paris Olympics Wednesday, becoming the first U.S. women’s slalom medalist in 20 years for canoe or kayak.

Being coached by her dad from a young age and growing up in a community filled with other canoe Olympians she could look up to since she started at four years old makes it all the more surreal.

“It means a lot to me, especially growing up in the kind of river community that I did so in Bryson City,” Leibfarth said. “A big part of it was just the community around it - I want to say like 20 other Olympians came from training at the NOC and I was able to have all those people as role models growing up.”

Her dad and family had the chance to witness her perform at the highest level on the sports world’s biggest stage.

“I’m able to be here with my family,” she said. “My dad is my coach and my mom is here and all of my best friends. It’s just so special to know that everyone who’s been a part of this journey is here for this moment.

“It’s so crazy,” she said after the final. “I didn’t really think that it would happen for me, I guess. It’s always been such a big goal but it seems crazy that I’m an Olympic medalist.”

She’s not a newbie to the Olympic Games, as Leibfarth made her Olympic debut in the Tokyo Olympics in just her second season at the senior level. She isn’t new to the bright lights either - she’s already a Pan American Champion and U23 World Champion and was a World Cup medalist at only 15 years old, the youngest to accomplish that feat.

She made history when she became the first woman to qualify for an Olympic Games in three different canoe/kayak events for this year’s Olympics.

She didn’t know right away if she would end up on the medal stand, since there were still competitors to make their final run after she did hers, so the waiting might have been the toughest part for Leibfarth.

“I think it’s hard when all of the competitors are also your friends, so I want everyone to do really well as they are coming down,” she said. “It means so much to all of us just to be here. We’re all so proud to be in the final. It was just a crazy feeling to know I could get a medal, and I think I just started ugly crying.”

She’s been busy since winning her first Olympic medal, being featured and interviewed on the Today Show. This could be just the beginning of a long career for Evy Leibfarth.

Anna Laible is a student with UNC Media Hub, a program with the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, reporting from the Summer Olympics in Paris. Laible hosts the Speak Up Sports Podcast. Follow her journey covering her first Olympics on her Instagram (@anna_laible).