Canadian squads selected to compete at 2019 World Rowing Cup

Rowing Canada Aviron (RCA) announced today the Canadian squads selected to compete at 2019 World Rowing Cup events and the Gavirate Para Rowing International Regatta. Following selection trials, held at the site of RCA’s future National Training Centre on Quamichan lake, crews were selected to compete at World Rowing Cup 2 in Poland, World Rowing Cup 3 in the Netherlands and the International Para Rowing Regatta hosted in Gavirate, Italy.

Canadian Olympic, Paralympic and World Championship medallists will join forces with Canada’s top high-performance rowers in an effort to fine-tune their racing experience ahead of the Olympic and Paralympic qualifier at the 2019 World Championships at the end of August.

Many household names and world medalists are nominated amongst RCA’s Women’s Sweep squad looking to confirm crew combinations in the lead up to World Rowing Cup 2. This squad includes 2018 World Champions, Hillary Janssens (Cloverdale, BC) and Caileigh Filmer (Victoria, BC) as well as many members of the 2017 and 2018 World Championship silver medal winning Women’s Eights. Kristen Kit (St. Catharines, ON) is confirmed as coxswain of the Women’s Eight following her steering of the 2017 and 2018 World Championship Eight, as well as the 2016 Paralympic Bronze medal winning team – PR3 Mixed Coxed Four.

Silver medallists at the 2018 World Cup 3, Andrea Proske (Victoria, BC) and Gabrielle Smith (Unionville, ON) will team up again in the Women’s Double while Ellen Gleadow (Vancouver, BC) and Jennifer Casson (Kingston, ON) have been named to the Lightweight Double scull. As the reserve for the women’s lightweight sculling program, Jill Moffatt (Bethany, ON) has been named to race the Lightweight Women’s Single.

Paralympic bronze medallist Andrew Todd (Thunder Bay, ON) will partner up with Kyle Fredrickson (Duncan, BC) in the PR3 Men’s Pair. The talented duo stood atop the podium in 2018 as World Champions after first capturing Gold at the 2018 Gavirate Para Rowing International Regatta.

Jeremy Hall (St. Paul, AB) will race in the PR2 Men’s Single following swift success in the 2018 season, including a silver medal at the World Championships and bronze at the Gavirate Para Rowing International Regatta.

2012 Olympic silver medallist Will Crothers (Kingston, ON) makes a return to the National team and the Men’s Coxed Eight alongside 9-time Olympic coxswain Lesley Thompson-Willie (London, ON).

Two-time Olympian Conlin McCabe (Brockville, ON) is lining up with 2016 Olympian Kai Langerfeld (Vancouver, BC) in the Men’s Pair.

Two-time U23 World Champion Trevor Jones (Peterborough, ON) will join up with 2015 Pan Am Games Gold medallist Matt Buie (Duntroon, ON) in the Men’s Double Scull.

Maxwell Lattimer (Delta, BC) and Patrick Keane (Victoria, BC) have been named in the Lightweight Men’s Double Scull. Maxwell and Patrick finished just off the podium in 2018 with 4^th place finishes at both World Rowing Cups 1 and 3. Maxwell’s brother, Aaron Lattimer has been named to race the Lightweight Men’s Single as the Men’s Lightweight program’s sculling reserve.

Rio Olympian and Pan Am Gold medallist Carling Zeeman (Cambridge, ON) will compete in the Women’s Single following a bronze medal performance at the 2018 World Cup 3 event in Lucerne, Switzerland.

“I am very excited to see the quality and depth of our Canadian Crews heading into the Olympic and Paralympic qualification year,” explains Iain Brambell, RCA’s High Performance Director. “The athletes and coaches have worked tirelessly throughout the off-season and are ready to launch into the international competitive season.”

The Women’s program will compete at both World Rowing Cup 2 and 3 with the Men’s and Para-Rowing programs returning to Canada following World Rowing Cup 2 to prepare for the first opportunity at 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games qualification at the 2019 World Rowing Championships.

RCA Women’s Program Head Coach Dave Thompson will be joined by Assistant Coach Phil Marshall to support the women’s program while Men’s Head Coach, Dick Tonks will be joined by assistant coaches Jeremy Ivey and Terry Paul to support the Men’s program and Women’s Single. The Para Rowing program will be led by Head Coach John Wetzstein.

This year’s Canadian line up at the 2019 Gavirate Para Rowing International Regatta will include RCA’s Next Generation (NextGen) rowers, James Kwinecki (St.Catharines, ON) and Stuart Chase (Vancouver, BC). Head Coach, John Wetzstein will support these crews at this event taking place from May 18-19 in Italy.

“It is amazing to think just one year ago Kyle Fredrickson and Jeremy Hall were attending the 2018 Gavirate regatta as their inaugural international rowing experience,” reflects Brambell. “Now as 2018 World Gold and Silver medallists, they will be cheering on James and Stuart as these NextGen athletes emerge onto the international scene in pursuit of their own World and Paralympic Games success.”

RCA will announce the 2019 World Rowing Championship team following World Rowing Cup 3 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. This pinnacle event doubles as an Olympic and Paralympic country qualifier for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Canadian Crews & Squads – World Cup 2 & 3

Canadian Umpire Philippe Colas (Quebec) will join the FISA Jury team at World Cup 3 in Rotterdam.

The World Rowing and International regatta events dates:

Gavirate International Para Regatta – May 18-19, Gavirate, Italy
World Rowing Cup 2 – June 21-23, Poznan, Poland
World Rowing Cup 3 –July 12-14, Rotterdam, Netherlands
World Rowing Championships – August 25-Sept 1, Linz, Ottensheim