For 30 paddlers from nine states and Canada, the road to the Olympic Games began this month on the Illinois River, at a whitewater park that didn’t exist just three years ago.
From July 13-19, the American Canoe Association (ACA), in partnership with the Grand River Dam Authority (GRDA) and Friends of WOKA, hosted the 2026 WOKA Development Paddling Camp at WOKA Whitewater Park in Watts, Oklahoma. The camp welcomed paddlers age 10 and up, from first-time boaters to athletes with their sights set on racing in a National Championships or earning a spot on a Junior National Team.
A Venue for Every Stage of the Journey
For some participants, the week meant getting in a boat for the very first time, learning to feel comfortable on moving water, and working toward their first combat roll. For others, it meant refining the technical skills that separate a good slalom run from a great one. Thirty athletes participated in the camp. 10 who were local to Oklahoma, and others traveling from Massachusetts, Maine, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Colorado, Texas, and Canada.
“WOKA is one of the best junior paddling venues in the United States,” said ACA Competition Director Jed Hinkley. “We plan to continue this development camp annually, and we hope to host a national-level competition at the WOKA whitewater park on the Illinois River next year.”
WOKA’s own story is nearly a century in the making. The site traces back to 1926, when a Tulsa businessman purchased 1,200 acres along the Illinois River with plans for a resort, and a dam soon after created a 70-acre lake known as Lake Frances. The lake drew generations of swimmers, anglers, and sailors, but decades of wear, economic hardship, and structural damage eventually led to the lake being drained in 1989-90 to prevent a dam failure.
The idea for a whitewater park on the site took root in the 2010s, championed by local water-quality and city leaders alongside the Walton Family Foundation, and picked up momentum once the Grand River Dam Authority took over stewardship of the Illinois River corridor in 2016. Construction began in 2020, and WOKA Whitewater Park opened to the public in August 2023 — transforming a century-old dam site into a world-class, free-to-access whitewater course. Today, admission to WOKA is free, with only a $10 parking fee, making it one of the most accessible whitewater parks in the country and a natural home for programs designed to grow the next generation of paddlers.
From the Illinois River to RIVERSPORT
The penultimate day of camp brought the journey full circle. Participants, coaches, and families made the three-hour drive east to Oklahoma City, where the world’s top slalom paddlers are training for the 2026 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships, set to run July 20-25 at RIVERSPORT. On Saturday, July 18, camp participants met athletes from the U.S., Canadian, and Australian national teams at a poster-signing event before getting on the water themselves at RIVERSPORT.
2026 Canoe Slalom World Championships Poster Signing with USA Olympic Athletes Bug Lokken, Evy Leibfarth, Michal Smolen
Among them was Rory, a camp participant who lives less than 10 minutes from RIVERSPORT and dreams of competing at the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane, Australia. Rory is one of only two girls on her slalom team and loves nothing more than showing fellow paddlers her home whitewater course.
“This is my sport,” Rory said. “When I flip or swim, I tell myself, ‘You can’t succeed without failure,'” — then she gets back in her boat for another run.
With so few women’s slalom paddlers in Oklahoma, Rory looks to North Carolina’s Evy Leibfarth — a two-time Olympian and Olympic bronze medalist racing at this week’s World Championships — and Ivy Lenz, a member of the USA Canoe/Kayak Junior National Team who won a bronze medal in the C1 team event at the Junior World Championships in Kraków, Poland, earlier this month.
Rory loved meeting other young slalom paddlers her age, especially the girls, and hopes to see her home club grow in the years leading up to LA28, when Olympic slalom events will be hosted right on her home course in Oklahoma City.
Building the Pipeline
From a first roll on the Illinois River to a poster-signing with Olympic and World Championship athletes, the WOKA Development Paddling Camp gave 30 young paddlers a glimpse of where the sport can take them and a reminder that every Olympic journey starts somewhere.