Laura Hofberger

Laura grew up near Augsburg in Germany. She got into kayaking through her parents and spent lots of family vacations at the Soca valley. Also, Augsburg has a slalom course, the Eiskanal, which provided her with an opportunity to practice her favourite sport whenever her heart desired it. The Eiskanal was also the main reason why she chooses to study at the University of Augsburg. Laura studied Physics with Chemistry as a side subject for a year before switching to Math and Sport science simply because the combination of Physics and sport science was not possible to study as a teaching degree. During her time at the University, she earned her money teaching kayaking for the University and working in a climbing arena. Augsburg is located in the south of Germany so Laura could explore the Rivers of the Alps at the Weekends relatively easily. Her favourite rivers in the alps are the Ötztaler Ache (Austria), the Soca River (Slovenia), the Verzasca (Switzerland) and the Shana (Italy). During the Summer vacation, her preferred destination is Norway. Laura finished University in 2019, absolved her two years of teacher training and had her final exam in 2021.

After that, she took a break to focus on kayaking as much as possible. Her first goal was to participate in the world champs at Ötz in 2021. Since the Wellerbrücken Section of the river is one of her favourite rivers, she had the home advantage and managed to win. After that, she realized a long dream of hers: spending all winter in Chile and all summer in Norway. When Laura is not in her boat she also loves to go running, ski touring, climbing or mountain biking. If given a choice, she would always choose reading over watching movies, coffee over tea and the mountains over the ocean.