David Ford (kayaker)

David Ford

Personal information
Born	(1967-03-23) March 23, 1967 Edmonton, Alberta
Medal record Men's slalom canoeing Representing Canada World Championships 1999 La Seu d'Urgell K-1 2003 Augsburg K-1

David Watson Ford (born March 23, 1967) is a Canadian slalom canoeist who has competed since the mid-1980s and is still actively competing. He is Canada's most successful slalom paddler.

Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Ford has won two medals in the K-1 event at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships. In 1999 he became the first non-European to win the World Championship title. Ford followed up with a World Championship silver in 2003. In 2003 he also won the overall World Cup title in K-1. He was named Male Athlete of the Year at the 2003 Canadian Sport Awards, and was inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.

Ford has competed in five Summer Olympics, earning a fourth-place finish in the K-1 event in Athens in 2004. He had a sixth-place finish in the same event in 2008 in Beijing. Ford could not get a sixth appearance in the 2012 Summer Olympics, as of his elbow tendons had ruptured prior to the qualifier, and with no time for the required surgery, countless injections were unable to produce an adequate result for him to paddle to his abilities.

On April 25, 2009, Ford married Canadian alpine skier Kelly VanderBeek. They have a son, Cooper.

References

• ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships – Part 2: rest of flatwater (now sprint) and remaining canoeing disciplines: 1936–2007 at WebCite (archived 2009-11-09)
• Official website
• Real Champions profile
• Sports-reference.com profile