The big boats came out Tuesday with both the Elk Lake-based Canadian men’s and women’s eights crews advancing to the next stage of racing at the world rowing championships, which are also the Olympic trials for Tokyo 2020.
The Canadian women’s eight was in a loaded opening grouping with New Zealand, Great Britain, China and Germany, with the Kiwis winning and advancing directly to the final. Canada was third and advanced to the repechage on Thursday.
Caleigh Filmer of Victoria and Hillary Janssens, the defending world champions in pair, are both also in the Canadian women’s eight, which is the defending silver medallist from the 2017 and 2018 world championships. Also in the eight is Avalon Wasteneys, the UVic Vikes rower from Campbell River.
“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 women’s eight crew member 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.”
An intriguing storyline is the re-emergence of the Canadian eight, which won bronze this summer at World Cup II in Poland behind its former great rivals Germany and Britain.
Canada was up against defending world champion Germany in its preliminary race. Germany led wire to wire to advance directly to the final. Canada was third behind the Germans and Aussies to advance to the repechage.
Canada has a fabled history in the men’s eight with crews coming out of Elk Lake to win Olympic gold medals at Los Angeles in 1984, Barcelona in 1992, Beijing in 2008 and silver at London in 2012. The program is trying to rally after not even having a team entered in the 2016 Rio Olympics, something that would have been unthinkable in previous Games.
There is now a re-emergence with the likes of Benjamin De Wit of Port Alice and Brentwood College-graduate Martin Barakso of Nanaimo. There are also echoes of past glory in the crew with 2012 London Olympics silver-medallist Will Crothers returning and also 60-year-old legendary coxswain Lesley Thompson-Willie, a five-time Olympic medallist, who has come out of retirement looking for her remarkable 10th Olympic Games appearance.
The once-mighty Canadian rowing team was reduced to a single silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, won by the Victoria women’s lightweight double of Lindsay Jennerich and Patricia Obee.
The Canadian team has been retooled on Elk Lake the past three years under the guidance of New Zealand import coaches Dick Tonks on the men’s side and Dave Thompson on the women’s side.
Today is a big day with Canada in several quarter-finals 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.
The world championships and Olympic trials run through Sunday.
The team, long based at Elk Lake, will relocate to Quamichan Lake in North Cowichan after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
