René Olsen has been chosen as the women’s sprint kayak coach at the National Centre of Excellence, Kieran Young has become performance support manager and Olympic champion Ken Wallace is set to be canoe sprint head coach at the Queensland Academy of Sport.

The new positions form part of Paddle Australia’s aim of improving its technical leadership and building a stronger high performance programme on the road to the Tokyo 2020 - postponed until 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic - Paris 2024 and future Olympic Games. 

Olsen joins Paddle Australia following his roles as head coach of British Canoeing’s Olympic sprint programme and lead coach of Canoe Racing New Zealand.

He is a former sprint and marathon canoeist who represented Denmark in World Cups, European and World Championships.

Due to Olsen's current employment commitments and travel restrictions, he will start the role on January 1.

"I'm very excited to be given this amazing opportunity and join Paddle Australia and the high performance team," Olsen said. 

"Australia has such a strong Olympic canoeing history, and I feel the strategy direction for sprint canoeing Paddle Australia has set out will strengthen the development of both the pathway and the sharp end of the sport."

Young's professional experience includes working at the Queensland Academy of Sport between 2007 and 2013, where he started as a senior strength and conditioning coach, before becoming the head of strength and conditioning. 

He then relocated to Canada to become the head of strength and conditioning at the Canadian Sports Institute.

For the past five years, Young worked in Dubai, where he led a multidisciplinary team of 20 staff across medicine, strength and conditioning and sport science.

"I’m thrilled about the opportunity to lead Paddle Australia’s performance support team, particularly with the Olympics fast approaching," Young said. 

"I believe this new role will help further Paddle Australia’s status as a world-leading high performance programme.

"I have tremendous respect for the work being done by the team and I’m looking forward to collaborating and sharing my experiences with the staff, athletes and stakeholders on how the sport can continue to succeed on the world stage."

Beijing 2008 Olympic gold medallist Wallace, who has already been working within Paddle Australia’s national performance pathway coaching team, will be tasked with the role of identifying and developing Queensland’s talented sprint kayak athletes.

In total, Australia have earned 34 Olympic medals in canoeing, including three gold.