Lucien Delfour (born 22 December 1988) is a French-Australian slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2006. He represented France in the 2006 season. Since 2010 he has represented Australia. Delfour qualified for the

2020 Tokyo 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 1 ...

.He completed his heats and semi-final successfully with an excellent time of 91.12 in his heats second run the highlight. Delfour finished 8th in the final of the Men's slalom K1 event with a time of 102.33.

Early years

Delfour was born in

Papeete Papeete (Tahitian language, Tahitian: ''Papeete'', pronounced ) is the capital city of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of the France, French Republic in the Pacific Ocean. The Communes of France, commune of Papeete is located on the isl ...

French Polynesia )Territorial motto: ( en, "Great Tahiti of the Golden Haze") , anthem = , song_type = Regional anthem , song = " Ia Ora 'O Tahiti Nui" , image_map = French Polynesia on the globe (French Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of Frenc ...

, He has the nickname 'Lulu' and started canoeing in 1997 at the age of 8. Delfour enjoyed both the slalom and downriver disciplines but had to make a choice. From the age of 14 he decided to focus solely on slalom. He won silver in the 2006 European Junior Championships in Nottingham, Great Britain In 2010, Delfour moved to Australia and four years later became an Australian citizen.

Achievements

Training under

Julien Billaut Julien Billaut (born 26 November 1981) is a French slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 1998 to 2009. Billaut won four medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships The ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships are an ...

, Delfour secured the single men's Rio 2016 K1 canoe slalom spot after a head-to-head battle with Australian Jaxon Merritt at the 2016 Oceania Championships. Delfour participated at two Olympic Games. His first appearance was 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 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

where he finished in 17th place in the K1 event. Delfour won several medals at the

Canoe Slalom World Cup The ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup is an annual series of races in canoe slalom held under the auspices of the International Canoe Federation. It has been held since 1988 in four canoe and kayak disciplines for men and women. The four original discipli ...

, placing second overall in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

in the K1 class.

World Cup individual podiums

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Delfour, Lucien 1988 births Slalom canoeists Living people People from Papeete Canoeists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic canoeists for Australia Australian male canoeists French male canoeists Canoeists at the 2020 Summer Olympics French emigrants to Australia