2019 World Rowing Championships – Canada continues to advance towards Tokyo 2020 qualification

Team Canada continued to progress well in Linz-Ottensheim on Day 3 of the World Rowing Championships. Canada advanced to three semifinals in the women’s four, lightweight women’s single and the PR2 mixed double today.

The women’s four repechage saw top-three advancing to the A/B semifinals with the Canadian crew of Madison Mailey (Burnaby, BC), Sydney Payne (Toronto, ON), Jennifer Martins (Toronto, ON), and Stephanie Grauer (Vancouver, BC) finishing third behind New Zealand and Great Britain.

“We raced calm and composed today,” said bow seat, Madison Mailey. “There is a strong level of trust and a strong sense of team culture in our boat. It continues to grow each day.”

This repechage was an important progression for the women’s four crews to ensure they remain in contention for a top eight performance and confirm their goal of Olympic qualification.

“It’s impossible not to think about Olympic qualification but it is not front of mind at the moment as we are focusing on our race plan,” said Sydney Payne. “We are pleased to get the job done today and focus on our semi-final on Thursday.”

Ellen Gleadow (Vancouver, BC) rowed a commanding repechage today in the lightweight women’s single, leading from start to finish and winning the race ahead of Denmark and Norway. Gleadow locked up her spot in the A/B semifinals taking place on Thursday.

Jeremy Hall (St. Paul, AB) and Jessye Brockway (Mill Bay, BC) raced the PR2 mixed double repechage today needing a top three placement to advance to the A/B semifinals. Hall and Brockway finished second behind the Germans, and still remain in the hunt for a top eight performance to confirm Paralympic qualification this week. Today’s performance has advanced the PR2 mixed double to Thursday’s semifinals.

“We made some positive changes from the heats that helped us meet our goal,” said Jeremy Hall. “We are one step closer and will use today’s experience to help us improve leading into our next race.”

The men’s and women’s eights raced their heats today with only one boat advancing through to the A final on the women’s side and two advancing straight to the A final for the men.

The Canadian women’s eight lined up in a stacked heat against New Zealand, Great Britain, China and Germany, with the Kiwis snagging the win and the only A final spot.

“We had a lot of excitement going into this race but also a lot of unknowns as it’s our first time racing as a crew,” said Rio Olympian, Christine Roper. “The field is very fast and even more competitive as it is an Olympic qualifying year. We are nine very powerful people and we’ve been in this situation before and we are confident we can get the job done later this week.”

The men’s eight faced off against the 2018 World Champions from Germany, Australia and Italy. Germany took an early lead that would not be relinquished, while Canada held a narrow lead over the Australians through the 1000m mark. With a significant push in the last half of the race, Australia pushed ahead of Canada resulting a third place finish for the maple leaf.

Both the men’s and women’s eights will contest the repechage on Thursday.

Tomorrow, Canada will race in multiple quarterfinal events in the women’s and men’s pair, lightweight men’s and women’s double, women’s single, lightweight men’s single and a repechage in the women’s double and PR men’s single.

Racing continues until September 1, 2019 with live streaming available every day at CBC Sports.

Canadian Crews – World Rowing Championships