Antje von Seydlitz

Biography

Antje von Seydlitz grew up cross-country skiing from a very young age, before eventually switching to biathlon, in which she competed throughout high school. With the Olympic spark ignited, she changed sports again, this time to rowing in 2008. Just four years later she was a world U23 champion in the four. She followed that in 2013 with a silver medal in the quad sculls at the senior world championships with Emily Cameron, Kate Goodfellow and Carling Zeeman. In 2014 von Seydlitz and the quad sculls crew made the A final at each of the three World Cup stops, highlighted by a silver medal in Lucerne, and finishing sixth at the world championships. In 2015 she competed primarily in the double sculls, but won a pair of gold medals at the Pan Am Games in Toronto in both the double and quad sculls. She moved into the eight in 2016 and was part of the crew that won silver at the season-opening World Cup stop in Varese, Italy. In her Olympic debut at Rio 2016, von Seydlitz and the eight advanced to the A final, finishing fifth.

Getting to know…

Family: Father Walter and Magdalene von Seydlitz… Older sister Nina… Descended from one of the greatest German calvary generals, Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz who fought in the Seven Years’ War (1756-63)… Getting into the Sport: Started rowing at age 18… When she was a novice on Elk Lake she thought it was easy but then figured out she was doing it all wrong and things became a little more challenging… Outside Interests: Graduated from the University of Victoria in 2014 with a degree in Microbiology… Enjoys hunting, camping, hiking, working on her parents’ farm, gardening, target shooting, being outdoors and getting her hands dirty, playing fiddle, drinking tea, knitting, cooking… Odds and Ends: Favourite motto: “Adversity causes some men to break, others to break records”… Favourite Olympic moment was when Carol Huynh, from Hazelton, BC (small town close to where she grew up), won Canada’s first gold medal at Beijing 2008… Collects fridge magnets from her travels… Loves teammate Carling Zeeman’s homemade bear burgers… Always travels with an instrument…