The Road to 2012

Born: August 3, 1987

Hometown: Bethesda, MD

Occupation: Full time Princeton University student, flatwater sprint kayaker

Club: Washington Canoe Club

Height: 5′ 11″

Weight: 180

Hobbies: Surfing the net, reading about cars, planes and fancy yachts (and some fiction from time to time). I also like biking, skiing, and watching Ronnie Coleman videos on youtube.

Favorite Foods: Nothing beats delicious chocolate chip cookies

Fun Fact: The square root of negative one is i.

Biography:

Flatwater sprint kayaking has always been a bit of a family tradition for me. My entire extended family lives in Hungary, where kayaking is really popular. Two of my uncles competed at the world championship level, and they share several medals between them. The elder of my two uncles, Kalman Petrovics, is a two time World Champion, in the 1990 K1 (singles) marathon and the 1985 K4 (four man kayak) 10,000 meters. My youngest uncle and godfather, Bela, also earned a bronze medal in the K2 (doubles) 1000. Their accomplishments have inspired me to also try my luck at the sport and to continue the family tradition.

Although kayaking is not as popular in the United States as it is in Europe, I was intent on finding a place to pursue the sport. In the summer of 1999, at age 12, I finally found the Washington Canoe Club (located in D.C.) I joined the team and have been a member of the club ever since. I attended my first nationals in Gainesville, GA, in 2000, where I placed 4^th in the K1-500 semifinal, narrowly missing the final. That summer was also the first time that I competed in the K2 with Sam, setting the stage for a really successful, long term partnership.

Several years later, at age 18, Sam and I raced and won the K2-500 and the K2-1000 meter events at the Junior National Team Trials in Lake Placid, NY. This performance qualified us for the Junior World Championships which were held later that summer in Szeged, Hungary. Unfortunately, Sam had a very untimely accident and broke his wrist days after our trials. He made a great recovery, however, and I stayed true to the K2 and we raced quite well at the Jr. Worlds given our setback. We placed in the semifinals and narrowly missed the B-Finals.

After Junior Worlds, I began my college career at Princeton University where I am majoring in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and obtaining a Certificate (minor) in Finance. Both Sam and I train on Lake Carnegie, where we share the water with the Princeton crew team and the US National Rowing Team.

Our most recent competition was the K2-1000 meters at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We placed 7^th in the finals in a really tight race. It’s been our most impressive accomplishment to date, and we hope to do even better in the future.