Donadea’s  Hendrick brings the curtain down on a fine career 

Irish canoe slalom has lost one of its great stalwarts in Robert Hendrick after he made the decision to retire from the sport.
Donadea’s  Hendrick brings the curtain down on a fine career 

Irish canoe slalom stalwarts Robert Hendrick has made the decision to retire. Photo: ©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

Irish canoe slalom has lost one of its great stalwarts in Robert Hendrick after he made the decision to retire from the sport in the wake of the recent 2025 ICF World Championships in Australia.

A 28th-place finish in the Men’s C1 semi-finals in Sydney brought the curtain down on a hugely impressive career for the 27-year-old man from Donadea, who twice qualified Ireland a boat for the Toyko and Paris Olympics, but never had the pleasure of occupying either berth himself, as he lost out to Liam Jegou in both of the race-offs that followed.

“I suppose I came to the decision towards the end of this season” Hendrick told The Kildare Nationalist.

“With the last two Olympic campaigns having not gone my way, I guess it took a lot from me personally.

“And I suppose when I was starting to have other pursuits going on in terms of my physiotherapy career, I just decided it was time.

“I always had that knowledge that I put the work in and I still paddle at a high level, but slalom changes so quickly.

“Ultimately, if I went for a third campaign, it could end the exact same way, and so I was happy enough to start looking at pursuing other things.

“After Olympic cycles, that's exactly the time when athletes take a step back and decide whether or not to keep going.

“I have a few friends from different countries, and some of them said, if you're in doubt, you're probably not finished, but when you know, you know, and I think it came to a point when I knew.

“I think I was just enjoying pursuing other things. And although I still enjoyed being in a boat and playing on the water, the same as when I first started with my coach, Eoin [Rheinisch] way back, I think, just the pursuit of competition was only making me frustrated at times rather than me enjoying it still” he explained.

Robert Hendrick in action at the 2023 European Games in Krakow, Poland. Photo: ©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo
Robert Hendrick in action at the 2023 European Games in Krakow, Poland. Photo: ©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

Starting out in canoeing at the age of 12, when he would have paddled with Kilcock, Hendrick really began to turn his focus on slalom, joining Wild Water Kayak Club in Chapelizod and later Ribbontail Paddlers Canoe Club in Meath.

His potential in the sport was very much underscored when he won a silver medal at the 2014 Youth Olympics in China, and five years later he qualified Ireland a quota place at the Tokyo Olympic Games when he finished 11th at the World Championships.

Unfortunately for the Kildare man, his hopes of representing Ireland in those Summer Games were not realised as he lost out in the race-off to fill that Olympic berth, but that did not stop him going for Paris 2024.

And he did it again, playing his part in a remarkable feat that saw both himself and his brother, Noel each secure Ireland Olympic spots in the Men’s C1 and K1 divisions respectively at the World Championships in Lee Valley White Water Centre in London.

Alas, the joy of a superb 16th-place finish on the global stage was followed by the heartbreak of, again, losing out to Jegou in the resulting race-off in Australia.

“I think that’s very much kind of defined my career a little bit, and I think it affected my relationship with competition and my feelings about working very hard for things and not feeling like I got the pay-out from that” sighed Hendrick.

“In slalom it can be very hard at times. You work as hard as any other athlete in any other Olympic sport, but the results can often not reflect that.

“That's been pretty tough to come to terms with, but it never changed my relationship with having fun on the water with my coach, Eoin, my brother Noel and our team mate Sam [Curtis].

“As a unit, for our entire career, the four of us worked together and we never stopped enjoying it right up until our last few races together. I learned that that was what was important to me rather than the results” he said.

“I'm sad to see him go, but I think he leaves behind a really good legacy of C1 in Ireland and there's a lot of younger people and a talented academy who really look up to Robert, ” said his brother Noel.

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