Rowing Canada Aviron – Eight Canadian crews lined up for A finals this weekend at the World Rowing – World Cup 3. Four of these crews stepped onto the podium of the illustrious Rotsee regatta course in the women’s coxless pair, the women’s single sculls, the women’s double sculls, and the women’s eight.
 
Women’s pair Hillary Janssens and Caileigh Filmer opened up the Canadian medal tally winning a silver medal, and adding to their gold medal performance from World Cup 1 in Belgrade, Serbia. Janssens and Filmer qualified directly to the A-final on Friday, winning their heat with a time of 7:13.98. Canada battled hard in the A-final to finish in silver medal position 0.43 of a second behind New Zealand (7:07.20).
 
“It just felt really close the whole way with the New Zealand boat,” said Janssens. “It was great to race them and we can see why they’re the world best time holders and reigning world champions. It’ll be fun to continue racing them and see where the season takes us.”
 
Carling Zeeman won the bronze medal in the women’s single sculls after a gutsy battle in the A-final, digging her way out from a slow start into a podium finish with a final time of 7:37.03.

“I wasn’t at this caliber at Belgrade as I was just coming out of an injury and lacked some confidence,” said Zeeman. “At this regatta, I’ve just been remembering my training and as the other Canadian crews have done so well, it really gave me lots of confidence to do well myself. I just kept thinking about internal queues and really working on technique. This was a really fun race and it’s rare that we get to race at such a caliber.”
 
The women’s eight were decisive in their progression through the World Cup regatta, winning their heat on Friday and qualifying directly into Sunday’s A-final. It was a tight final race between Canada, New Zealand and the USA. Canada locked up the silver medal (6:08.11) behind New Zealand (6:06.17) with USA taking the bronze medal (6:09.17).  The women’s eight includes six members of the 2017 World Championship silver medal team: Rebecca Zimmerman, Christine Roper, Susanne Grainger, Nicole Hare, Lisa Roman, Avalon Wasteneys, Sydney Payne, Karen Lefsrud, and coxswain Kristen Kit.

“It was a really good race,” said Sydney Payne. “We really learned from our heat and were able to incorporate changes into today’s races. Following this event, some of us will be going to Under 23 Championships and from there we will await selections for the World (Senior) Rowing Championships in September.”
 
The women’s double, Andrea Proske and Gabrielle Smith, kicked off their first international regatta with an outstanding performance, qualifying for the A-final from the repechage on Saturday to round out their World Cup event with a silver medal (6:52.80) behind New Zealand (6:50.12).

“We’re pretty much speechless!” said Smith.  “This is our first international race and we’ve only been rowing together for three weeks and to compete in such a field of competitors has left us speechless.”

The lightweight men’s double, Patrick Keane and Maxwell Lattimer, raced in their second A-final of the season finishing 4^th overall with a time of 6:33.80. Keane and Lattimer also finished 4^th in Belgrade at World Cup One.
 
The lightweight women’s double, Jill Moffatt and Jennifer Casson, placed 5^th (7:12.12), marking great progress since their 7^th place finish at World Cup 1 in Belgrade. Canadian lightweight teammates Ellen Gleadow and Katherine Haber also lined up in lightweight women’s A-final as a new crew, placing 6^th overall (7:13.23).

The men’s eight finished 6^th overall in their first event of the season. Matt Buie, Mackenzie Copp, David de Goot, Kai Langerfeld, Benjamin de Wit, Jakub Buczek, Martin Barakso, Cody Bailey and coxswain Jane Gumley qualified for the A-final yesterday in a gritty repechage race, beating out the Netherlands with a time of 5:29.27. Germany won the A-final with a time of 5:31.81.

The Canadian women’s four, consisting of Jennifer Martins, Jessie Loutit, Colleen Nesbitt, and Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski, made their international debut in Lucerne as a combined crew, winning the B-final and placing 7^th overall (6:43.48).

“We came into Lucerne with a growing excitement within the team and the expectation of achieving A-Finals (Top 6),” said Rowing Canada High Performance Director Iain Brambell. “We accomplished this goal and depart Europe better prepared for the training between now and World Championships. It’s always fantastic to see Canadian crews on the podium and even more impressive for those attending their first senior international competition.”

Congratulations to the entire Canadian team for outstanding performances in Lucerne!
 
Canadian World Cup 3 Results:
W2- Silver medal
W2x – Silver medal
W8+ Silver medal
W1x – Bronze medal
LM2x –  4^th place
LW2x – 5^th (Moffatt/Casson) and 6^th place (Gleadow/Haber)
M8+ 6^th place
W4- 7^th place
 
Event website and Results

Team Canada Roster – World Cup 3, Lucerne
 
Women’s Single Scull
Carling Zeeman  – Sudbury Rowing Club

Women’s Coxless Pairs
Hillary Janssens – University of British Columbia
Caileigh Filmer – University of Victoria

Women’s Lightweight Double Scull
Jill Moffatt – University of Western Ontario
Jennifer Casson – Kingston Rowing Club

Ellen Gleadow – Burnaby Lake Rowing Club
Katherine Haber – Hanlan Boat Club
 
Women’s Eight
Rebecca Zimmerman – University of Victoria
Christine Roper – Ottawa Rowing Club
Susanne Grainger – London Rowing Club
Nicole Hare – Calgary Rowing Club
Lisa Roman – Middlesex-Western Rowing Club
Avalon Wasteneys – University of Victoria
Sydney Payne – Brentwood College Rowing Club
Karen Lefsrud – Calgary Rowing Club
Kristen Kit (coxswain) – St.Catharines Rowing Club
 
Women’s Four
Jennifer Martins – University of Western Ontario
Jessie Loutit – Calgary Rowing Club
Colleen Nesbitt – University of Calgary
Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski – Calgary Rowing Club
 
Women’s Double Scull
Andrea Proske – Victoria City Rowing Club
Gabrielle Smith – Knowlton Rowing Club

Men’s Eight
Matt Buie – St. Catharines Rowing Club
Mackenzie Copp – Western Rowing Club
David de Groot – Brock University
Kai Langerfeld – University of Victoria
Benjamin de Wit – University of British Columbia
Jakub Buczek – Burnaby Lake Rowing Club
Martin Barakso – Brentwood College Rowing Club
Cody Bailey – Mic Mac Amateur Aquatic Club
Jane Gumley (coxswain) – University of Victoria
 
Men’s Lightweight Double Scull
Patrick Keane – University of Victoria 
Maxwell Lattimer – University of British Columbia
 
Coaching Team
Dave Thompson (Women’s Head Coach)
Michelle Darvill
Phil Marshall
Dick Tonks (Men’s Head Coach)
Jeremy Ivey

Canadian Umpires Attending World Cup 3
Charles Hauss             Lachine Rowing Club

For more information:
RCA Communications
comm@rowingcanada.org