Kali Wilding Finds Olympic Inspiration At Home

Dying To Ask: Road to Paris

Kali Wilding and Shelley Oates-Wilding are on the ultimate Olympic mother-daughter road trip that hopefully ends in Paris.

Kali is one of Team USA's top sprint kayakers. Shelley is a two-time Olympian for Team Australia and the current U.S. National Coach in canoe-kayak.

Kali grew up in Hawaii surrounded by water and her mother's Olympic legacy. But Shelley says she was careful to not push her sport on her kids. Kali started out as a gymnast but couldn't resist the water.

She recently won the K-2 sprint kayak event at the U.S. Olympic Canoe Kayak Team Trials at the CSUS Aquatic Center at Lake Natoma, California. The next and final step in becoming an Olympian is competing in the Continental Olympic qualifier in Sarasota, Florida, in April.

An Olympian being coached by a parent who is also an Olympian is rare. And, Kali and Shelley hope to make that dream happen this summer at the Paris Games.

"We get to travel so much together. It's crazy fun having a mother as a coach, best friend, travel buddy. It's a dream come true," says Kali Wilding.

Shelley Oates-Wilding says, "Representing your country at the Olympics is one of those things. You're being the best you can be in your chosen profession. It's the journey going toward what your Olympics is."

On this Dying to Ask:

• The growing sport of sprint kayaking
• What it's like growing up with an Olympian for a parent
• What Shelley did to not force her sport on her kids
• What it takes to pursue an Olympic dream while going to a school like USC