Caitlin Regal (; born 9 February 1992) is a New Zealand

canoeist Canoeing is an activity which involves paddling a canoe with a single-bladed paddle. Common meanings of the term are limited to when the canoeing is the central purpose of the activity. Broader meanings include when it is combined with other acti ...

. On 3 August 2021 she won a gold medal alongside

Lisa Carrington Dame Lisa Marie Carrington (born 23 June 1989) is a flatwater canoeist and New Zealand's most successful Olympian, having won a total of five gold medals and one bronze medal. She won three consecutive gold medals in the Women's K1 200metres a ...

in the K-2 500 metres event.

Early life

Regal was born on 9 February 1992 in

Takapuna Takapuna is a suburb located on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. The suburb is situated at the beginning of a south-east-facing peninsula forming the northern side of the Waitematā Harbour. While very small in terms of population, it ...

, a suburb of North Shore. Aged 5, she joined the Red Beach Surf Life Saving & Squash Club on the

Hibiscus Coast The Hibiscus Coast is a populated area on a stretch of the Hauraki Gulf coast in New Zealand's Auckland Region. It has a population of making it the 11th most populous urban area in New Zealand, and the second most populous in the Auckland Re ...

north of

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, where she later competed in surf competition. By age 14, she had qualified as a life guard. She has won numerous titles at the New Zealand Surf Life Saving Championships.

Canoeing

At the 2015 Canoe World Cup in Portugal, she won gold in the Women's K-4 500 metres event, and silver in the Women's K-2 500 metres event. She represented New Zealand at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

finishing fifth in the Women's K-4 500 metres alongside

Jaimee Lovett Jaimee Lovett (born 5 May 1988, in Whakatane) is a New Zealand canoeist. She represented New Zealand at the 2016 Summer Olympics. She competed alongside Caitlin Ryan, Kayla Imrie and Aimee Fisher in the Women's K-4 500 metres event. After ha ...

Kayla Imrie Kayla Imrie (born 4 February 1992) is a New Zealand canoeist. She represented New Zealand at the 2016 Summer Olympics. She competed alongside Jaimee Lovett, Caitlin Ryan and Aimee Fisher in the Women's K-4 500 metres event. After having tra ...

and

Aimee Fisher Aimee Fisher (born 24 January 1995) is a New Zealand Sprint kayak, sprint canoeist. Fisher was born in Rotorua. She represented New Zealand at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where she competed alongside Jaimee Lovett, Caitlin Regal, Caitlin Ryan an ...

. At the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, she once again represented New Zealand. She competed in the Women's K-1 500 metres, Women's K-2 500 metres, and Women's K-4 500 metres.

Personal life

Caitlin Ryan married her partner, Nick Regal, in early 2021.

References

External links

* * * 1992 births Living people Olympic canoeists of New Zealand Canoeists at the 2016 Summer Olympics People from Takapuna Sportspeople from Auckland New Zealand female canoeists New Zealand surf lifesavers ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships medalists in kayak Canoeists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in canoeing Olympic gold medalists for New Zealand {{NewZealand-canoe-bio-stub