UNIVERSITY PARK — Kurt Smithgall was 12 when he discovered he had a talent for kayaking.

After he joined a kayaking club to meet new people, Smithgall spent a few years paddling around rivers with friends before deciding to try racing. He entered a race on Red Moshannon Creek, and, to his surprise, he won.

Since 2008, Smithgall has been competing all over the United States and has quickly moved up the ranks of American wildwater kayaking.

“My goal was just kind of to see how well I could do,” said Smithgall, a 20-year-old Penn State student from Montoursville.

“As I do better, I kind of get more ambitious, and it’s kind of like, all right, how much better can I do?”

Smithgall placed third at the U.S. Team Trials for wildwater kayaking in Elk-horn City, Ky., in October, and now is training for the World Championships in Bourg St.-Maurice, France, to be held June 23 to July 1.

Wildwater is a type of kayaking in which competitors race down whitewater rapids in either 90-to 120- second sprint races or 10-to 20-minute endurance races. There is no set course in a wildwater race; kayakers are free to choose the route they think will get them down the river fastest.

In France, Smithgall will represent the U.S. against the world’s top kayakers. He’ll be part of a team of five women and 12 men, including kayakers and canoeists.

Unlike racers from other countries, who receive sponsorships and are funded by their homelands, Smithgall will pay his own expenses and train while taking classes as a full-time student.

“They get sponsorships, and they get government jobs where they only have to work 20 hours a week, and then they train the remainder of the time, so it’s like their job is being an athlete and then they just work a little bit to cover themselves,” Smithgall said.

European kayakers also can travel to France to practice, gaining a sort of home field advantage. Smithgall is limited to practicing on Red Moshannon Creek and Spring Creek near State College.

Smithgall’s coach and mentor, Chris Norbury, agreed that “there aren’t a lot of great whitewater runs close to State College” and that, by comparison, the course in France will be “very, very tough.”

“He is easily the strongest domestic paddler on the U.S. team going to the World Championships this coming year,” Norbury said. “But his performance at the Worlds will depend on his ability to practice on hard whitewater extensively in the spring.”

Norbury, who is from Palmyra, is also on the U.S. team.

Even with the advantage the European kayakers have, Smithgall remains confident.

“The U.S. doesn’t have quite the caliber as the European countries, but I’m trying to even it,” he said.

Smithgall said that making the World Championships has motivated him to train even harder over the winter and spring. Right now, Smithgall is training five or six times a week while majoring in environmental resource management.

“I was able to talk to my adviser and get some things moved around so I have a slightly less load this spring, so I’ll be able to devote more time to training and not go crazy,” Smithgall said. “This semester was do or die, and I pulled it off and I’m really happy with that.”

He typically practices in local creeks and lakes, lifts weights, and runs or rides his bike. In the winter when the rivers and lakes freeze over, Smithgall does cross-country skiing. But, he said, “There’s really no substitute to kayaking.”

Norbury said he helps Smithgall train by trying “to identify weaknesses in both his technique and fitness, and then give him ideas about how he can try to work on those areas to become stronger.”

“He has now been exposed to high-level European paddlers a number of times, so he realizes that 13 to 14 training sessions per week is something that he will need to do to be competitive with the top paddlers,” Norbury said.

Smithgall said he is looking forward to competing in another country.

“All of the racers tend to stay in one area, so you’re mingling with the French or the Czech team, so you meet different people, a different culture,” he said. “I’ve never been to Europe, so it’s going to be a cool experience with that itself.”

Kayaking is a major sport in Europe. Some 1,500 kayakers entered the qualifying race to select the four-man French world championship team, Smithgall said. By comparison, only 18 competed in the qualifying race for the American team.

“Spectators line the banks, and it’s a really big deal, which will be cool over there because it’ll be a really neat experience,” he said.

Smithgall said that after the French competition, he will probably stick with wildwater kayaking while he tries to get his career and his “real life” figured out.

“I just tend to get a nice feeling of accomplishment when I’m done at the race course and I look upstream and it’s usually some pretty good whitewater,” Smithgall said. “It’s one thing to paddle down it, but it’s another to race down it at your absolute maximum. So I just like it; it’s fun, and there’s a good group of people that do it.”

Drew Gingrich is a Penn State journalism student.