WCU is home to one of U.S.’s kayaking gold medalists, and he’s active in the sports community here in Western North Carolina.
Landon Miller, a junior at WCU, is a 20-year-old business marketing major and kayaking prodigy, known by the water sports community for his reputation as the three-time gold medal world champion in kayaking in the International Canoe Federation Freestyle World Championship.
Miller is known for many accomplishments in the kayaking community, including his 2024 Men’s C1 title at the World Cup with a score of 1336.67, the highest ICF-scored C1 ride in history.
While competing in different World Championships, Miller has traveled to Sort, Spain in 2019, Nottingham, England in 2022 and Columbus, Georgia in 2023. He plans on competing in the 2025 ICF Canoe Freestyle World Championship in Plattling, Germany, hoping to win his fourth gold medal.
Miller is a part of a large group of kayakers on campus. While the group is no longer a registered student organization, as Miller said he failed to fill out the correct paperwork, the group has formed a close community and kayaks together on local rivers up to four times a week.
Miller, an Asheville native, began his kayaking journey at 12. His father suggested he get into the sport and emphasized the importance of community.
“Everyone’s got each others’ backs, and it’s super cool. You trust each other with your life. That was honestly a super cool thing to realize. I could be dying on the river, and I could have a friend that I knew was going to come and get me. And that was kind of what led to my draw towards it,” Miller said.
Miller chose to go to WCU because of its proximity to multiple kayaking locations. Miller said the WNC region is one of the best places for kayaking in the Southeast.
“My first World [competition] was when I was 15. And ultimately, I realized that if I just stuck to this, if I just kept trying, I could be pretty good at it,” Miller said. “All the best kayakers from the U.S. get together at this one spot and just throw it down for a weekend. You try and do the best, your best ride and basically line up and then, they take the best three people out of the country. And so you’re just trying and you’re fighting for the top three spots,”
Miller said that the sense of team is important to kayaking, even if it is not technically a team sport. He talks about how kayakers have each others’ backs when dangerous situations arise.
“Two years ago, I had a pretty bad incident where there was a tree. I didn’t see it, and I got wrapped around the tree. One of my friends threw me a rope. I was able to get a hold on the rope,” Miller said. “He was there in like 30 seconds to come get me.”
Miller encourages anyone interested in kayaking to give it a try with the local group on campus. With so many great locations, and such an interwoven community, kayaking is both a physically and socially productive sport to participate in.
