Mark Crosbee is a Canoe Slalom Athlete, who was awarded a Tier 1 Scholarship within the 2024 Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship and Mentoring Program. He was paired with triple Olympic gold medallist rower Drew Ginn OAM as his Mentor.
Mark grew up on the riverbanks in Scotland. Both of his parents were paddlers, representing the UK at International and Olympic levels. They taught him the importance of connecting with nature and to appreciate the joy that the sound of flowing rivers brings, which saw him follow in their footsteps and start paddling, competing in his first local Canoe Slalom competition at the age of seven.
Mark and his family relocated to Melbourne in 2014. Mark’s dream of competing at the Olympics and becoming world champion started to take shape after watching his cousin, Jess Fox, win an inspiring Olympic silver for Australia at the London 2012 Olympics, and was solidified after waking up at 2am to watch Jess win yet another medal in the form of bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
In 2019 at age 15, Mark qualified for his first Junior World Championships and competed in Krakow, Poland, just missing out on the semi-final, finishing 33rd.
After two years of waiting for international competitions to resume due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mark qualified for his final Junior Team in 2022, competing in the Junior World Championships in Ivrea, Italy. After a tricky lead-in, he qualified for the semi-final, finishing 22nd in K1 and became Junior World Champion in C1, the first male Australian athlete to do so in Canoe Slalom.
In 2023, Mark qualified for the Under 23 World Championships in Krakow, Poland, and World Cup 3 in Tacen, Slovenia, where, after suffering from gastro for six days in the lead up to racing, he qualified for the final on World Cup debut, finishing 10th.
“It means so much to become a SAHOF scholarship holder and I am so grateful to be given the opportunity to learn from one of Australia’s greatest athletes. I can’t wait to learn as much as I can from Drew Ginn about the mental aspects of competing as well as how to deal with life outside of sport while competing” – Mark Crosbee on being selected as a 2024 Tier 1 Scholarship Holder.
Honours & Achievements
- 2023: ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup Ljubljana-Tacen, Slovenia 10th Place
- 2022: ICF Junior Canoe Slalom World Championships in Ivrea, Italy 1st Place
- 2022: Junior Oceania Championships 1st Place
- 2022: Australian Open 3rd Place
- 2022: ICF Canoe Slalom Ranking Race Merano, Italy 10th Place
Social Links | Instagram: mark.crosbee04
Photo Credit: Sarah Crosbee
