Canadian boats on to semi-finals and finals at U23s

Canada’s eight U23 NextGen crews have battled heat, storms, and tight competition through the first three days of the 2019 World Rowing U23 Championships en route to securing semi-final and final berths.

Spencer Kielar (Guelph, ON) will race in the Lightweight Men’s Single A/B semi-finals after improving on a second place finish in the heats with a 7:07.010 first place performance in the repechages.

“One of the things I’m focusing on that I think I did really well in the reps was my pacing,” Kielar said on looking towards Saturday morning’s race. “I’m [ready] to put out what I’ve got and give it my all.”

Also competing in A/B semi-finals on Saturday morning is Tyler Adams (Victoria, BC) and Michael Bryenton (Peterborough, ON), who won the Men’s Double repechage.

The Women’s Four is progressing to the A final after coming second in their repechage behind Great Britain with a time of 6:47.030.

“We’ve had such an amazing team environment and boat environment and the summer has been really fun,” said three seat Ivy Elling Quaintance (Victoria, BC). “One of our big goals of the summer was to first make the A final, so knowing that we achieved our first goal after so much hard work is really exciting.”

“That’s what we set out to do from the beginning of the regatta,” continued stroke seat Isabel Ruby-Hill (Toronto, ON). “It’s nice to have that and now we can just go into the A final trying our hardest knowing that we’ve already met one of our big goals.”

Louise Munro (Ottawa, ON) brought Canada’s Friday to a close by earning a spot in the Women’s Single A final after a second place repechage finish.

The other Canadian team headed to an A final is the Women’s Coxed Four. With just five entries in this event, their preliminary race served as a race for A final lanes. The crew finished fourth in the preliminary race with a time of 7:08.730.

The Men’s Eight and Women’s Quad both battled hard in tight repechage races, the Men’s Eight finishing 0.17 seconds behind second place Australia and the Women’s Quad finishing 1.01 seconds behind second place Switzerland. Both crews will race in their respective B finals.

Katie Clark (Cranbrook, BC) and Yara Ensminger (Oakville, ON) will race in the Women’s Double B final after finishing third in the repechages behind Greece and China.

Racing continues on Saturday with A/B semi-final action, the Women’s Quad B final and the Women’s Coxed Four A final. The event wraps up on Sunday with the remaining A and B finals.

Team Canada Results and Progressions

Women’s Quadruple Sculls (roster below)
4^th in Heat > 3^rd in Repechage > B Final

Women’s Four (roster below)
4^th in Heat > 2^nd in Repechage > A Final

Lightweight Men’s Single Sculls – Spencer Kielar
2^nd in Heat > 1^st in Repechage > A/B Semi

Women’s Single Sculls – Louise Munro
4^th in Heat > 2^nd in Repechage > A Final

Women’s Double Sculls – Katie Clark & Yara Ensminger
3^rd in Heat > 3^rd in Repechage > B Final

Men’s Double Sculls – Tyler Adams & Michael Bryenton
4^th in Heat > 1^st in Repechage > A/B Semi

Men’s Coxed Eight (roster below)
3^rd in Heat > 3^rd in Repechage > B Final

Women’s Coxed Four (roster below)
4^th in Prelim > A Final

Under 23 World Championship Team

Under 23 Coaches
Women’s Sculling – Gavin McKay (Aviron Québec)
Women’s Sweep – Greg Szybka (Brock University Rowing Club)
Men’s Sculling – Dane Lawson (University of Western Ontario Rowing Club)
Men’s Sweep – Pat Newman (Victoria City Rowing Club)