Under one week from now, one of Canada’s best canoeists could have her Olympic journey cut short.

Winnipeg’s Nadya Crossman-Serb started on the high performance pathway two years ago, and her likelihood of qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics is very high. Just 20 years old, Nadya has proved she can contend with the best senior athletes in the world. At her first ever Senior World Cup last year, she brought home a gold medal in the C2 event alongside partner Katie Vincent.

Recently returning home from training camps and competition in Europe, Nadya has had a spectacular start to her 2017 season. Nadya claimed three gold medals at the Italian National Team Trials, a regatta pulling in the top senior competitors from around Europe. Nadya captured two individual gold medals (in the C1 200m and C1 500m events) and a third in the C2 500m event with partner and fellow Manitoban Maddy Mitchell. Though her skill and athleticism has her destined for Olympic greatness, Nadya’s dreams of competing in the inaugural Olympic Women’s Canoe event could end prematurely.

Like many of our athletes, Nadya’s limitation is a financial one.

Read: Why Canada’s athletes are struggling financially

Early in 2017, Nadya was told she would have to fundraise $7,000 to pay back costs she incurred in training and international competition last year. Should she fail to secure this funding, Nadya will not be able to compete at this year’s National Team trials. If she doesn’t compete in the trials, she will not be able to compete for Team Canada this year.

We at the Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba have been helping Nadya to promote her fundraising campaign since the beginning of March. Even so, Nadya has only five days left to raise $2,644 before her May 7th deadline.

• Global News: High bill could sink Olympic dream of Winnipeg canoeist 
• Canstar News: Crossman-Serb aiming to pursue her paddling dreams

 Your help in spreading the word about Nadya’s situation and need would be greatly appreciated. Hopefully this will assist her in meeting her goal and thereby able to compete in this year’s National Team trials.

Visit Nadya’s Make-A-Champ crowd-funding page which includes her story, great photos and a link to support her cause.

From all of us at the Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba,

Thank you.

About CSCM: 
The Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba (CSCM) was created as one of the many legacies of the 1999 Pan American Games held in Winnipeg. Today, CSCM is the hub for high-performance sport in Manitoba. A proud member of the Olympic and Paralympic Sport Institute Network, CSCM works to provide a world-class, multi-sport daily training environment for athletes and coaches through integrated services and programs in the fields of physiology, strength and conditioning, nutrition, psychology and support services.

For more information, contact:
Jeff Powell
General Manager, Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba
Direct Line: 204.474.7148 | Email: media@cscm.ca