Matija Marinić

Matija Marinić (born 24 December 1990) is a Croatian slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2006. Marinić competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo finishing in 11th in the C1 event. He also competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, finishing 8th in the C1 event and 32nd in kayak cross. He is from Zagreb and is coached by 1992 Olympian Stjepan Perestegi. He is from Rijeka on the Kvarner Gulf and currently lives in Croatia's capital city, Zagreb. making it somewhat of a home course for him and other Croatian slalom canoeists.

Career Junior Matija began paddling in 1997 with Kajak Kanu Klub Zagreb after transitioning from water polo.

In 2008 Matija made the finals at both junior international events, finishing 10th at the Europeans (after incurring a 50-second penalty) and 6th at the Worlds. During this time he also competed at the U23 level, finishing 8th in C1 team at the Europeans in 2007 and 2008. Matija competed in several World Cups as a Junior and achieved a 15th place at the 2008 event on his "home" course in Tacen.

U23 Marinić began competing at the U23 level in 2010, finishing 9th at the U23 European Championships in Markkleeberg. In the same year he competed at the senior World Championships in Tacen and finished in 13th place, aged 19. He competed in the inaugural edition of the ICF World U23 Canoe Slalom Championships in 2012 in Wausau, Wisconsin and finished in 29th place. He competed in the same event again in 2013 in Liptovský Mikuláš, improving to 18th place.

In 2011 Matija won a silver medal in C1 at the U23 European Championships in neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina and bettered this achievement two years later by becoming the 2013 U23 European Champion in Bourg-Saint-Maurice.

At the 2019 World Championships in La Seu d'Urgell, Matija finished in 12th place, automatically qualifying for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo as the 10th ranked NOC. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the only two major competitions Matija competed in between the 2019 Worlds and the Olympic Games were the 2020 and 2021 European Championships, where he finished in 16th and 14th place, respectively. In the lead-up to the postponed Games he won an ICF World Ranking race in April in Tacen,

On 13 July 2021, 8 days after arriving in Tokyo to prepare for the 2020 Summer Olympics, Matija and coach Stjepan were sent into self-isolation by the Olympic organisers due to there being an infected passenger on their flight. They were initially required to self-isolate for a week but were allowed to return to training on the 15 July, two days later, following an appeal by the president of the Croatian Olympic Committee Zlatko Mateša. Mateša publicly criticized the handling of the issue, calling it a "glaring example of the inability of the organizers to deal with the problems associated with the pandemic".

Matija finished in 11th place in the C1 event at the 2020 Games, after being eliminated in the semi-final.

Results World Cup individual podiums SeasonDateVenuePositionEvent 2013 17 August 2013 Tacen 3rd C1

Complete World Cup results