Women’s eight win bronze at World Rowing Championships
The Canadian women’s eight rowing team continued their medal-winning ways at the world championships on Sunday. They raced to a bronze medal on the final day of competition in Racice, Czech Republic.
Alexis Cronk, Kirsten Edwards, Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski, Sydney Payne, Morgan Rosts, Jessica Sevick, Gabrielle Smith, Avalon Wasteneys and coxswain Kristen Kit finished in six minutes 7.51 seconds.
“We went out and we wanted to have a race that we would have no regrets and could be proud of every stroke and I think we did that,” Payne said. “We went for it and here we are, bronze!”
This Canadian squad captured a World Cup silver in July after winning Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020.
READ: Canada women’s eight races to silver in Switzerland
Romania (6:01.14) and the Netherlands (6:05.04) finished first and second respectfully. The Canadian rowers held second position until halfway through the race. The Netherlands, not far behind, finally overtook Canada in the final 1500 meters before maintaining their rank until the finish line.
Canada qualified for the final without too much trouble in the preliminary race by registering the second fastest time, behind the United States who finally finished in fourth place.
On the men’s side, the Canadian eight also participated in the A final, finishing in fifth position. The race was won by Great Britain, just ahead of the Netherlands. Australia completed the podium.
