Nouria grew up in the ski resort town of Val d’Isere, France, where she skied and kayaked as a kid. But at age eight, she turned her focus to the water. “The French ski club system wanted you to only ski and I wasn’t willing to do that,” she says. “I loved kayaking too much.” That decision has paid off. Nouria moved to Toulouse to study at age 18 and joined a kayak club that trained on what she calls a pretty bad whitewater river. “But the whole stretch of river was like a slalom course,” she says. “It forced you to make hard moves in an easy environment and that really helped me get better.” That led to several years of competition, and, in 2013 Nouria won silver in slalom kayaking at World Championships in Prague. 

“I thought competition would make me happy,” she says, “but I wasn’t satisfied. It wasn’t enough reward for the effort I was putting into it.” The following year Nouria shifted her focus to expedition kayaking. In 2018, her sponsor Red Bull funded a solo trip down India’s Tsarap, Zanskar, and Indus Rivers. It took seven days and covered more than 230 miles. After the adventure, Nouria said she was lucky to be alive. In 2021, in Ecuador, she became the first woman to drop a 100-foot-plus waterfall. And in 2022, Red Bull released “Wild Waters,” a film focusing on her accomplishments. Today, Nouria is known as one of the best expedition kayakers in the world.

“I’ve been working on mountaineering in case I get into situations on an expedition and need those skills to be safe,” says Nouria. “I’m just trying to be better prepared wherever I am.”

“Big Water Theory,” a movie by and featuring Nouria, will release soon and has been selected for the Banff Film Festival in November. “It was a passion project that I shot in Pakistan with only one filmer,” she says “It focuses on both the decision making and the concept of line in kayaking.”