![]() 2016 Australian Paralympic team portrait | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Amanda Jane Jennings | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nationality | ![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 and para archer. She won two gold medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships and a silver medal in the Women's 200m KL3 at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. [3] [4]
She has been selected to compete in archery at the 2024 Paris Paralympics. [5]
Jennings was born on 7 October 1971. [2] In April 2012, Jennings underwent elective surgery to amputate the lower part of her right leg. [6] For 20 years before the amputation, Jennings lived with depression, chronic pain and an addiction to prescriptive drugs following complications from a dislocated knee. [6] 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." [6]
She is an Equine Sports Therapist. Jennings is married to Wayne and they have two children. [7]
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. [8] 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. [9]
At the 2016 ICF Paracanoe World Championships, Duisburg, Germany, she won the silver medal in the Women's 200 m KL3. [10] A month prior to the championships, she underwent an appendix operation. [11] 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. [12] 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. [13]
At the 2019 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, Szeged, Hungary, she finished seventh in the Women's KL3 200m. [14]
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. [15]
Jennings held an 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. [16] She named her new sprint canoe "Douglas" or "Doug" after two people that have inspired her - boxer James 'buster' Douglas and pilot Douglas Bader. [16]
Jennings transitioned to archery after the 2020 Summer Paralympics as a result of two hip replacements. [17] She took up archery as part of her rehabilitation. She competes in recurve events. She member of Mount Petrie Bowman in Brisbane, Queensland.
In 2015 and 2016, she was awarded the People's Choice Award at the Australian Canoeing Awards. [18] [19]
Liam Heath is a British sprint canoeist. He is the most successful British canoeist at the Olympics with a total of four medals; he won a gold medal in the individual 200m kayak sprint event at the 2016 Summer Olympics and a bronze in the 2020 Olympics, as well as a silver in the men's double with Jon Schofield in 2016. and a bronze at the 2012 London Olympics in the K-2 200 with Schofield.
Karolina Elżbieta Naja is a Polish sprint canoeist who has competed since the late 2000s. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, she won a bronze medal in Women's K-4 500 metres, and silver medal in Women's K-2 500 metres.
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.
Paracanoe debuted at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. A meeting of the International Paralympic Committee in Guangzhou, China in 2010 decided to add paracanoe to the roster of the Summer Paralympic Games.
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.
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.
Poland competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016.
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.
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 2018 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, the 44th edition of the World Championships, were held in Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal, from 22 to 26 August 2018.
The women's KL3 competition at the 2018 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Montemor-o-Velho took place at the Centro de Alto Rendimento de Montemor-o-Velho.
The 2019 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, the 45th edition of the World Championships, were held in Szeged, Hungary from 21 to 25 August 2019.
The men's K-1 200 metres competition at the 2019 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Szeged took place at the Olympic Centre of Szeged.
The women's KL3 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.
Scott Martlew is a New Zealand Para canoeist from Christchurch, New Zealand, who represented his country at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Paralympics.
The women's KL3 competition at the 2022 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Dartmouth took place on Lake Banook.