Training with the Pointe-Claire Canoe Club, he began his international career in 1999, winning a gold medal in the C-1 1000 m event at the Junior World Championships.

By the time of the 2008 Summer Olympics, he had made a total of 44 top three finishes in international canoeing competitions, including 14 wins.

After joining the Pointe Claire Canoe Club, his first major international victory was the Junior World Championships in August 1999 in Zagreb, Croatia, where he placed first in the C-1 1000 m event.

In August of that year, he finished second in the junior C-1 1000 m event at the Pan American Sprint Canoe Championships in Lake Placid, New York.

Included among these were first-place finishes in events at the Continental Olympic Qualifier and the National Team Trials in Montreal and the IFC World Cup in Duisburg and Poznań, Poland.

[3] He credited his victory to "a sea change in [...] life"[4] beginning in January, as well as a closer bond with his coach, Michael Creamer.