The 20-year-old rower was selected to represent New Zealand in the men’s double scull event alongside his rowing mate Jack Pearson.
Growing up, King said he watched rowing at the Olympics and played other sports such as rugby, but it was not until he started high school at Cromwell College that he tried rowing.
"I got told to give it a go and kind of went with it from there."
It was the good team environment as well as his good results that kept him interested in the sport, he said.
King placed third at the Maadi Regatta in the 16-year-old singles. He described that as the peak of his school career.
His under-17 season was messed up by a series of issues; his coach got run over and two weeks before the Maadi Regatta, King caught Covid.
After high school, King joined Dunstan rowing club. This is his third year with the club.
King said he did not expect to make nationals let alone the New Zealand under-23 team after a rib injury left him unable to row for seven weeks.
"Everyone’s pretty stoked ... I’ve had lots of ups and downs, especially this season."
In preparation for the World Championships in Poland in July, King has been hard at work with a training plan provided by Rowing New Zealand.
In two weeks’ time he will go to Cambridge for more intense fulltime training.
King said he was nervous but excited to take his rowing to a next level.
The competition would be the first time King has rowed with his rowing mate Pearson.
King’s rib injury meant the duo have had few opportunities to row together.
"We’ve done a couple of training sessions down here together, but not really much, yeah, racing or anything like that," he said.
King said the environment at the world championships is going to be crazy and pretty cool to be at.
He hopes to represent New Zealand in the under-23 team more before looking into elite rowing.
To represent New Zealand at the Olympics one day was something that King described as pretty cool.
