Paralympic shot-putter, Niko Kappel’s lessons for unleashing the potential of the payments industry

The countdown is on for the world's best athletes to assemble at the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024, an event that continues to inspire and motivate people around the world.  
These athletes' prowess is built on ten key fundamentals of athleticism, that offer invaluable lessons for individuals and businesses alike.

Looking at mental resilience and agility, let’s find out what we can learn from these fundamentals to level up the payments game.

Meet para-athletics competitor and Team Visa athlete, Niko Kappel

Known for his charismatic personality, Niko is a relative newcomer to the sport of shot put. Taking his first international leap in 2015, Niko’s agility isn’t just reserved for the field; it’s his superpower, helping him tackle every challenge the sport threw his way (no pun intended).

Mental resilience put Niko in power position, allowing him to persevere and become a top competitor in the world. Within two years of his international debut, Niko competed in the Paralympic Games Rio 2016 where he would defy the odds and win Gold.

From that point on, Niko has been a dominant force on the international scene, winning two Silver medals in 2015 and 2017 and Gold in 2017 at the World Championships.

At the European Championships, he earned the Bronze medal in 2021 and two Silver medals in 2016 and 2018. Returning to the Paralympics at Tokyo 2020, he once again ascended the podium in Shot Put F41, a Paralympic competition class for athletes with limb deficiency, this time securing the Bronze medal.

As one of the sport’s most decorated athletes, Paris 2024 presents a new challenge for Niko. With his reputation and history as a Paralympic champion, he faces the task of leveraging his mental resilience and agility to extend his streak to three consecutive Paralympic medals.

Mental resilience and agility: Equipped for the challenges of today and tomorrow

Mental resilience allows Niko to perform at his best consistently, strong in the knowledge that the hard work he has put into training will prepare him well for the future. In the same way, Visa actively shapes the evolving payment landscape by consistently innovating new ways to pay, establishing digital solutions that cater to present and future consumer needs.

Not so long-ago some of the world’s top innovators were talking about things like biometric authentication in payments and being told it’s totally unrealistic. But things have come a long way, and in many ways, the future is already here.

In the not-too-distant future, the 16 digit “Primary Account Number”, or PAN - which has been the gold standard for identification and payments for decades - will start to disappear into the background. Soon, your eyes, face, fingerprints, and even behaviours and habits will become the only credential you need.

Gen Alpha have strong expectations for a world without friction. If you think about it – why stop to pay when many of us have GPS devices with payment credentials in our digital wallets?

As Niko prepares for any competition, he must be agile enough to adapt to anything that could disrupt his training, whether it’s his fellow competitors setting new benchmarks, or injury. Just like Niko, as the context for application is ever evolving, Visa needs to be agile and ready to adapt. As we enter the next frontier, moving from abstract, isolated transactions to data-rich, contextual interactions, we open new possibilities to enrich lives and bring value to people, businesses and economies in Europe. Visa’s network has rare agility to keep the ecosystem resilient and transactions secure even while adapting to these new scenarios.

Retailers are already adopting ‘walk out’ technology in stores, this tech has the power to extend to many other use cases – like the Tube or Metro. Imagine strolling through a station, boarding any train, and being automatically charged based on your journey – an already seamless experience could be made even easier, with existing technology.

And what about seamlessly moving through the airport, bypassing checkout lines for duty-free. Once checked in with your ID, linked account credentials should suffice for automatic payment, reducing queues and improving the airport experience.

It’s the same story for events – music, football, exhibitions… checking into a venue using your mobile device should enable you to pick up products or services whilst your account is charged automatically in the background.

The availability of data and convergence of data sources using AI is providing new context and opportunities to deliver a seamless experience - and the benefits are endless.

For individuals, it means personalised services and secure, flexible options regardless of who and how you want to pay. Small businesses can benefit from tools previously available only to larger enterprises, gaining access to the same seamless experiences they’ve come to expect in their personal lives, helping them manage operations more effectively.

It means businesses of all sizes can reduce abandoned purchases, lower fraud and improve customer loyalty. Whilst governments - in partnership with businesses - can better serve their citizens and deliver the foundations for new models such as green transit or recommerce.

For banks and financial service providers, data availability not only helps strengthen their customer relationships, but assists them in embedding services into their customers’ daily lives. This enhances customer experiences and provides them with more choice, in turn powering economic growth.

As Niko gears up for Paris 2024, committed to his goals of a third Paralympic medal, Visa remains committed to their goals of ensuring individuals, businesses and economies can adapt to the evolving world of digital payments, ensuring new technology is built with the same level of security people expect from us.