Canadian rowing team announced ahead of 2024 World Cups and final Olympic qualification regatta
Rowing Canada Aviron (RCA) announces 4 crews and 22 rowers to represent Canada at upcoming international rowing events. Team Canada rowers will divide and conquer as Paris-qualified boats will head for World Rowing Cup action. At the same time, two additional crews will aim to secure that last-chance qualification opportunity at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in mid-May.
The Women’s Lightweight Double crew of Jill Moffatt and Jenny Casson are first to take flight over to Europe to compete at World Cup 1 in Varese, Italy from April 12-14. The Tokyo Olympians had a breakthrough performance at the 2023 World Rowing Championships in Belgrade, finishing 4th and securing an Olympic berth for Paris 2024.
“We are very excited to start our racing season,” said Casson. “With so few international racing starts, it is exciting to have the opportunity to test our speed against some international doubles this early in the year. We aim to learn something from each 2000m race as we build towards Paris 2024. Being in Europe and racing the top crews at both World Cup events is the perfect opportunity to sharpen, evaluate, and tune ourselves for the Olympics.”
Jill and Jenny will be joined by the Women’s Coxed Eight crew at World Cup 2 in Lucerne, Switzerland from May 24-26. The star-studded boat will include four athletes from the gold medal-winning boat in Tokyo 2020 including, Avalon Wasteneys, Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski, Sydney Payne, and coxswain Kristen Kit.
“Racing is my favourite time of the year and we are very excited to get to the start line,” said Gruchalla-Wesierski. “We’ve put in some good work over the last few weeks and are looking forward to sharpening a few things over the next month before we travel to Europe.”
Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Caileigh Filmer returns to big boat action following her podium finish in the Women’s Pair with Hillary Janssens. Filmer made her Olympic debut in the Women’s Eight at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“It’s certainly different to be back in a big boat after spending so many years focusing on the pair, but it’s part of the reason I wanted to come back to rowing to see if I could add a piece to the puzzle in trying to help Canada win Gold again this summer,” explained Filmer. “The first time I raced at the Olympics was in Rio when I was 19, and this fuels me to get back there to rewrite my first result in this boat class with many more years of experience.”
Tokyo Olympians, Kristina Walker and Jessica Sevick will add their prowess to the lineup in addition to 2023 Pan Am gold medallist, Abby Dent and rising star, Maya Meschkuleit.
Both crews (Women’s Eight and Women’s Lightweight Double) will return to Canada following their World Cup events for training in the lead-up to Paris. Further evaluation will be made to finalize the roster and nomination of the Women’s Olympic Eight.
Meanwhile, two more crews are headed straight to the last chance qualifier in Lucerne, Switzerland the weekend ahead of World Cup 2, from May 19-21.
Canada will field a Men’s Coxed Eight and a Women’s Quadruple Sculls boat with two Olympic quota spots up for grabs in each event.
Three-time Olympian and Olympic silver medallist, Will Crothers will be looking to lock up his fourth Olympic appearance in Paris alongside fellow Olympians, Gavin Stone, and Jakub Buczek who rowed in the Coxless Four together in Tokyo, finishing 8th overall. Rising stars, Curtis Ames, Jack Walkey, Joel Cullen, Ryan Clegg and Terek Been will also be powering the boat, steered by Paralympian coxswain, Laura Court.
“This crew is pushing each other hard everyday, both physically and mentally, as we stay focused on moving together with the boat,” said Buczek. “Things are coming along nicely and we are continuing to build up our confidence as we head towards the final qualifier in May.”
Familiar faces grace the Canadian women’s quadruple sculls team vying for a top-two finish and Olympic qualification including two-time Olympian, Carling Zeeman, Katie Clark, Marilou Duvernay-Tardiff, and Shannon Kennedy. This talented boat will join the Canadian Men’s Eight crew from May 19-21st for the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland.
Schedule and results will be available at www.worldrowing.com
For more information:
Colleen Coderre
RCA Communications Lead
coderre@rowingcanada.org