Led by coxswain Kristen Kit and three other returnees from the Tokyo 2021 championship crew, Canada’s women’s Olympic eight rowing team captured a silver medal at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium in France.
Finishes 4 minutes 45 seconds behind Romania in France, Brits earn bronzeThe Canadian Press
· Posted: Aug 03, 2024 4:58 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago
Canada’s women’s 8 rowing crew grabbed a silver medal in Saturday’s final at the Paris Olympics, stopping the clock in five minutes 58.84 seconds. Romania posted a winning time of 5:54.39. (Ebrahim Noroozi/Associated Press)Canada’s defending-champion women’s eight rowing team has won a silver medal at the Paris Olympics.
Led by coxswain Kristen Kit and three other returnees from the Tokyo 2021 championship crew, the Canadians covered 2,000 metres in five minutes 58.84 seconds for a silver medal at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium in France.
“So much gratitude for these women. They [answered] every single call I asked them to do,” Kit told CBC Sports. “They dug way deeper than I’ve ever seen anyone dig. You can’t count out [Canadian women] until [the race] is done.”
Added Avalon Wasteneys, a member of the 2021 Olympic squad: “Right from the beginning, I think we all trusted each other, we believed in each other and we knew it was going to be a great, tough race.
WATCH l Canadian women’s 8 team races to silver at Paris 2024:
Canada’s women’s 8 rowing team captures silver at Paris 2024Canada’s women’s eight rowing crew finishes second at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 to fall short in its bid for back-to-back Olympic gold. Romania wins the final with a time of 5:54:39.
“Off the start we went as hard as we could. We added some extra pushes. There were [times] when I had doubt but I just kept backing myself by believing in the girls around me because I knew we had such a strong crew. Kit was pushing us, pushing us, pushing us and we hung on and gave our best effort.”
Romania won gold in 5:54.39, with Great Britain (5:59..51) taking bronze.
“Our [coxswain] Victoria Stefania Petreanu told us in the last 500 metres the gold was ours, but I didn’t believe it,” said Romanian rower Maria Lehaci. “I knew that we had to go for the finish line and here we are. We are Olympic champions.”
WATCH l Canadian women’s 8 team receives silver medals:
Canadian women’s 8 rowing team receives their silver medalsMedal presentation for Canada’s women’s eight rowing crew after finishing second in the final at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
The team returned four members from the Tokyo Games: Calgary’s Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski, Toronto’s Sydney Payne and Avalon Wasteneys of Campbell River, B.C., along with Kit of St. Catharines, Ont.
Abby Dent of Kenora, Ont., Victoria’s Caileigh Filmer, Maya Meschkuleit of Mississauga, Ont., Jessica Sevick of Strathmore, Alta., and Kristina Walker of Wolfe Island, Ont. are the other team members.
Canada’s victory in 2021 ended a medal drought in the event dating to the London Games in 2012, and it’s the ninth straight Olympics Canada has won a medal in rowing dating back to 1992.
However, Kit said the team slid down the standings after Tokyo and “really struggled” to regain form.
“To pull it together in nine months, this is a dream come true,” said Kit, who said she will retire after Paris.
The Canadian women’s 8 crew clinched a berth for Paris last September with a fifth-place result (6:07.15) at the world championships in Belgrade, Serbia.
Canada found itself in a tight battle with Great Britain for second with 500 metres to go, but were able to hold off their rivals to claim silver.
Kit said the Canadians didn’t have the greatest start, and had to adjust the plan.
“I kind of made an executive decision to keep us high, and get us in the race, and we were in the race,” she said. “Honestly I was just really grateful the women trusted me to change the race tactics on the fly.”
Canada qualified for Saturday’s final after finishing second (6:04.81) in Thursday’s repechage.
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With files from Doug Harrison, CBC Sports
