Canada wins first 2019 Pan American rowing medal in Peru

Canada’s first rowing medal of the 2019 Pan American Games was claimed on Thursday morning at Albufera Medio Mundo in Huacho, Peru by Women’s Pair Larissa Werbicki (Saskatoon, SK) and Jessie Loutit (Fort Simpson, NWT).

Werbicki and Loutit remained in second place throughout the race, finishing just behind Chile’s duo of Melita Abraham and Antonia Abraham with a time of 7:36.06.

“We adjusted our race plan to go a bit faster off the start because we knew the Chileans had a fast start. We took the start a bit more aggressive and we found ourselves in second place coming through the 1000 and we were pretty relaxed about that,” said Werbicki. Her and Loutit also finished in second behind Chile in their preliminary race. “We decided to do a final sprint and we ended up coming closer to the Chileans than in the heat, which is exciting.”

This is Werbicki and Loutit’s first Pan American Games and Loutit’s first international medal. Werbicki previously won silver at the 2014 World Junior Championships and bronze at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games.

Luc Brodeur (St. Catharines, ON) and Graham Peeters (Omemee, ON) finished sixth in the Men’s Double A final in their first senior racing competition. Brodeur and Peeters reached the A final after winning their Men’s Double repechage on Tuesday with a time of 6:26.77.

In Canada’s last race of the day, Layla Balooch (Burnaby, BC) and Shannon Kennedy (Toronto, ON) came sixth in the Women’s Double A final.

Pan American Games racing continues for Canada on Friday August 9 with the Lightweight Women’s Double, Lightweight Men’s Double, and Women’s Single A finals. Saturday August 10 will feature Canadians in the Lightweight Women’s Single A final and the Men’s Single B final.

Team Canada Results and Progressions

Lightweight Women’s Single – Trish Mara
3^rd in Heat > 1^st in Repechage > A Final

Women’s Pair – Jessie Loutit & Larissa Werbicki
2^nd in Prelim > 2^nd in A Final

Lightweight Women’s Double – Kate Haber & Jaclyn Stelmaszyk
1^st in Heat > A Final

Women’s Single – Jessica Sevick
1^st in Heat > A Final

Women’s Double – Layla Balooch & Shannon Kennedy
3^rd in Prelim > 6^th in A Final

Lightweight Men’s Double – Spencer Kielar & Josh King
4^th in Heat > 1^st in Repechage > A Final

Men’s Double – Luc Brodeur & Graham Peeters
5^th in Heat > 1^st in Repechage > 6^th in A Final

Men’s Single – Matthew Finley
2^nd in Heat > 5^th in A/B Semi > B Final

When and Where
August 6-10, 2019
Lima, Peru
Racing starts each day at 9:00am local time (10:00amET/7:00amPT)

Pan American Games Team

Pan Am Coaches
Carol Love (Peterborough Rowing Club)
Dane Lawson (University of Western Ontario Rowing Club)