OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALLIST CAITLIN ' BEING A MUM IS THE BEST PRIZE'

After welcoming her beautiful daughter Luna, the athlete has no regrets about retiring from kayaking

- Nicky Pellegrino

The very best part of Caitlin Regal's day is always the moment she gets home from work and her excited toddler Luna dives on top of her for a play-fight.

"I love seeing Luna having fun and being happy," says the champion kayaker, 31. "Those times when we're having a bit of a rumble and play are when I feel really connected to her."

In 2022, Caitlin won Olympic gold alongside Dame Lisa Carrington in the K2 500m event in Tokyo. Standing on that podium was a glorious feeling, but life as a mum is even more rewarding and she has no regrets about retiring from the sport ahead of the next Games in Paris.

Originally, Caitlin's plan was to start a family, then get back into competing as quickly as possible. Everyone in the sport was supportive and she didn't see any reason why she shouldn't manage it.

But Caitlin says, "After my final event in Tokyo, I had this split-second feeling of, 'OK, cool, I'm done. When I got back to New Zealand, I spent 14 days in quarantine and that gave me the space to figure things out. It was scary not knowing what was next for me, but it was also exciting." Just a couple of months later, Caitlin (née Ryan) and her husband Nick were thrilled to discover they had a baby on the way.

She recalls, "A lot of our friends had struggled to get pregnant and we didn't know how it would be for me after putting my body under so much stress as an athlete for such a long period of time. So I think we were lucky."

On the whole, Caitlin had an easy pregnancy, with no morning sickness at all. Still, it was a big adjustment at first.