 2016 Australian Paralympic team portrait | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Amanda Jane Jennings | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |  Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 7 October 1971 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Paracanoe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disability class | KL3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Amanda Jane "AJ" Jennings (formerly Reynolds, [1] born 7 October 1971) [2] is an Australian paracanoeist who has won two gold medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships. She won a silver medal in the Women's 200m KL3 at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. [3] [4]
Jennings was born on 7 October 1971 and lives in Macclesfield, Victoria. [2] In April 2012, Jennings underwent elective surgery to amputate the lower part of her right leg. [5] For 20 years before the amputation, Jennings lived with depression, chronic pain and an addiction to prescriptive drugs following complications from a dislocated knee. [5] In reflecting to life after the amputation, Jennings commented: "Everybody's got the opportunity. You've just got to have the courage to take it." [5]
She is an Equine Sports Therapist. Jennings is married to Wayne and they have two children. [6]
Jennings is classified as KL3 paracanoeist. Reynolds paddling career started with the Murray Marathon [2] and participated in the 2013 Sale to Sea Disability Kayak Challenge. [7] In 2014, she won the K1 200 m, K1 500 m and 1000 m LTA events at the National and Oceania Championships. In her world championships debut, she won the bronze medal in the Women's K1 200 m LTA at the 2014 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Moscow, Russia. At the 2015 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Milan, Italy, she won the gold medal in the Women's K–1 200 m KL3. [8]
At the 2016 ICF Paracanoe World Championships, Duisburg, Germany, she won the silver medal in the Women's 200 m KL3. [9] A month prior to the championships, she underwent an appendix operation. [10] She won a silver medal in the 200m KL3 at the 2016 Rio Paralympics where paracanoe made it Paralympics debut. [4]
At the 2017 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, Račice, Czech Republic, she won the gold medal in Women's KL2 200m. [11] After a year of battling injury, Reynolds at 2018 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, Montemor-o-Velho, won the silver medal in the Women’s KL3 200m. [12]
At the 2019 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, Szeged, Hungary, she finished seventh in the Women’s KL3 200m. [13]
At the 2020 Summer Paralympics, Jennings finished fifth in her Heat and eighth in the Women's KL3 semi-final and did not advance to the final. [14]
Jennings is a Victorian Institute of Sport scholarship holder and was originally coached by Steve Vegh and Mark Dougall. [2] In 2015, she moved to the Gold Coast, Queensland to work closer with National Para-canoe Head Coach Andrea King. [15] She named her new sprint canoe "Douglas" or "Doug" after two people that have inspired her - boxer James ‘buster’ Douglas and pilot Douglas Bader. [15]
In 2015 and 2016, she was awarded the People's Choice Award at the Australian Canoeing Awards. [16] [17]
The ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships are an international event in canoe racing, one of two Summer Olympic sport events organized by the International Canoe Federation. The World Championships have taken place every non-Olympic year since 1970 and officially included paracanoe events since 2010; since 2012, paracanoe-specific editions of this event have been held in Summer Paralympic years.
Henry Manni is a Finnish athlete and paracanoeist who has competed and medaled in both fields at World Championship level. In Paracanoeing he won a bronze medal in the K-1 200 m TA event at the 2010 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Poznań. Manni later switched to athletics as a wheelchair sprinter in the T34 classification. In 2013 he won a bronze in the World Championships in the 200m event, following this with four golds in the 2014 European Championships and three further World championship medals in 2015.
Charlotte Sarah Henshaw is a British Paralympic full-time athlete across multiple disciplines. Originally a swimmer, she changed to canoeing from 2017, becoming the reigning World champion in the KL2 (three-time) and VL3 (two-time) 200m events. In September 2021, at the delayed 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, she became a Paralympic champion at her fourth games, winning the Women's KL2 event.
Curtis Wain McGrath, is an Australian paracanoeist and former soldier. He took up canoeing competitively after both of his legs were amputated as a result of a mine blast while serving with the Australian Army in Afghanistan. McGrath won consecutive gold medals in the Men's KL2 at the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, and has won ten gold medals and a silver at ICF Paracanoe World Championships between 2014 and 2019.
Kara Kennedy is an Australian paracanoeist who has won silver medals at the 2013 and 2014 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships.
Paracanoe is canoeing for athletes with a range of physical disabilities. The Paralympic version of the sport is governed by the International Canoe Federation (ICF), and a va'a-specific variant is governed by the International Va'a Federation (IVF).
Susan Seipel is an Australian Para-canoeist, a gold and bronze medallist in kayak and outrigger canoe at the 2015 and 2016 World Championships. She won a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and a silver medal at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Jeanette Clare Chippington, is a British Paralympic swimmer and paracanoeist. Chippington has represented Great Britain at seven Paralympics, five in swimming Summer Paralympics, 1988 Seoul, 1992 Barcelona, 1996 Atlanta, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004. Competing as a S6 classification swimmer she favoured mainly 50 m and 100m freestyle competitions. After retiring from swimming Chippington returned to disability sport, becoming a world class paracanoeist, winning gold at the 2016 Summer Paralympics and bronze at 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Emma Clare Wiggs, is a British paracanoeist and former sitting volleyball player, who competes in the KL2 classification of paracanoe. She won gold at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in the KL2 category, gold and silver at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in VL2 and KL2 categories, and is also a nine-time world champion. As a volleyball player she was part of the Great Britain team that competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics.
The KL3 class is for paracanoe paddlers with trunk function and partial leg function. A KL3 class paddler should be able to sit within a forward flexed position. Paddlers use a foot board or the seat to propel the boat. Eligible paddlers typically meet one of the following:
Dylan Littlehales is an Australian paracanoeist. He competed for Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Jocelyn Neumueller is a paracanoeist. She competed for Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
The 2017 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, the 43rd edition of the World Championships, were held in Račice, Czech Republic, from 23 to 27 August 2017.
Anne Dickins, is a British paracanoeist who competes in the KL3 classification. She won gold in this event at the 2016 Summer Paralympics, and has also won two World Championship and three European Championship golds.
The women's KL1 competition at the 2019 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Szeged took place at the Olympic Centre of Szeged.
Catherine "Cat" McArthur is an Australian canoeist. She qualified to represent Australia at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Her team consisting of Jo Brigden-Jones, Shannon Reynolds and Jaime Roberts made the women's K-4 final but failed to win a medal, coming 7th with a time of 1:39.797 over two seconds slower than their best time in the heats.
Maryna Mazhula is a Ukrainian paracanoeist. She is a two-time world champion in the women's KL1 event.
Katalin Varga is a Hungarian paracanoeist. She represented Hungary at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
The women's KL1 competition at the 2022 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Dartmouth took place on Lake Banook.
The women's KL2 competition at the 2022 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Dartmouth took place on Lake Banook.
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