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Lukas Walton-Keim has been flying kites since before his first birthday.
Not that he had much choice at an early age. As the son of a paraglider who raced internationally and who then established a paragliding and kiteboarding school, the sport literally picked him up.
These days it's not only his passion but also his 'job' and he's working towards not only competing at the 2024 Paris Olympics but winning a medal.
Men's and women's kitefoiling will make its debut on the Olympic programme in Paris, and Walton-Keim is by some margin this country's top exponent.
The lack of competition is one reason why he's aiming to spend as much time as possible overseas in 2022, training with and racing against the world's best, and will depart these shores at the end of the month. The Olympic clock is well and truly ticking and Walton-Keim is looking to make the most of every minute available.
The 26-year-old never really had Olympic ambitions as a youngster. He was born into the paragliding scene and was taken for his first flight before he'd even turned one.
"Mum is German so we spent a lot of time when I was really young travelling around Europe," he said. "I was basically dragged around to different paragliding sites around the world. Mum was young and wasn’t going to stop just because I was on the scene. I basically grew up on the hill or in the water and picked up paragliding and kitesurfing at a young age.
"Mum flew with me when I was a few months old. I started my own paragliding when I was about 10. They tell the story that I was flying around at 10 and looking at me thinking I was a bit young so they pushed me towards kitesurfing, which I picked up really quickly. When I got older and could make better decisions for myself, I got back into flying. After this campaigning I’ll have a proper go at paragliding."
Walton-Keim is already a three-time national paragliding champion and teaches both paragliding and kiting to help fund his Olympic campaigning. It's a tough existence and he knows he needs to attain results internationally to receive more high-performance funding and attract sponsors.
He's shown potential, having finished third with Justina Kitchen in the team relay at the 2019 European Championships and he was also ranked as high as No 7 in the world at the end of that year.
They were notable achievements for someone who had barely raced before - the 2019 world championships was his first taste of international competition - but, at a time when Walton-Keim needed to gain more experience, Covid limited his opportunities.
The last two years is not the first time Walton-Keim has felt isolated.
Photo: Joshua McCormack
Panic started setting in when a 14-year-old Lukas-Walton-Keim found himself face-down in Shoal Bay and struggling to keep his head above water.
He'd felt something give in his back when attempting a trick on his kiteboard and pain coursed though his body if he tried moving.
"I had just got into wakeboard boots and they are big and heavy on your feet," he said. "I was still quite young and small and there was a lot of pressure on my back doing these tricks over and over again. Eventually it fractured my L5.
"I remember crashing and I was face-down in the water and it was really painful to lift my head. I was wondering if I was going to be able to keep my head up. I couldn’t get my feet out of the boots because I would have to bend down and get them out so I was just drifting downwind."
A friend sailed past and suggested he sail in and call it a day but that wasn't really an option. Two onlookers then ran out into the water and extracted Walton-Keim, placing him on the back of a ute before calling an ambulance.
The person who made the call didn't really communicate how serious the situation was, meaning Walton-Keim spent two agonising hours on the ute before the ambulance showed up.
X-rays didn't show anything but a full scan revealed the extent of the damage followed by instructions to avoid any physical exercise for six months to allow the injury to heal.
The only problem is it didn't heal, and still hasn't really. Instead Walton-Keim has learned to manage the issue, with the occasional flare-up.
"If I get injured now I'm wary and make it my No 1 priority," he said. "It’s taught me a lot but also that sport and your body can be pretty fickle at times."
Walton-Keim has seen that first-hand. His partner is 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Eliza McCartney, who missed last year's Tokyo Olympics because of ongoing injuries, and he also lives with three-time Olympic sailor Paul Snow-Hansen and has shared a flat with Football Fern Emma Roulston.
His living situation has also given him an insight into what it takes to become an Olympian.
"I’m around a lot of people who are very, very good at their sport and to suddenly have the opportunity to be a part of that was pretty special," he said. "At the start I thought there’s no way I could be like that but in time you learn everyone does it a bit differently and, as long as you’re making steps in the right direction, you’ll be OK. It is a big mindshift for me.
"I was always a show-off. I love showing off and being good at what I do but I was never really focused on goals. It’s something I’ve had to pick up and it’s something I really enjoy. I’ve learned a lot about myself."
The learning is only accelerating and this year Walton-Keim plans to spend time in Australia, the US and Europe between May and October. The main target is October's world championships in Sardinia but the bigger goal is never far from view.
"This year is about proving to myself and everyone else that I belong and set myself up for a good 2023 and 2024," Walton-Keim said.
By then he could be really flying.
