Rowing Canada Aviron (RCA) is pleased to announce the rowers that will represent the nation at the upcoming World Cup II held in Varese, Italy from June 16-18.

Canadian rowers will field seven boats, the Men’s and Women’s Eights, Men’s and Women’s Quads, Women’s Double, Women’s Lightweight Double and the Men’s Single events, represented by 31 rowers, plus two travelling alternates.

Tokyo gold medalists Avalon Wasteneys, Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski, Sydney Payne and cox Kristen Kit feature in the Women’s Eight, while veteran Will Crothers leads the Men’s Eight. Jill Moffatt and Jenny Casson race in the lightweight doubles, Trevor Jones competes in the Men’s Single, while sculling stalwart Carling Zeeman features in a powerful Women’s Quad line-up.

RCA Director of High Performance Adam Parfitt is looking forward to seeing our nation’s best rowers competing against the world after a long period of training and learnings at the National Training Centre.

“This is the first major regatta of the season for our crews, and it is important to understand how our long hours of training over the winter stacks up against the rest of the world, especially with the World Championships on the horizon,” Parfitt said. “Our crews are progressing well, and World Cup II is an important milestone in our journey towards Paris.”

Amongst the crews are four athletes who will be making their senior team debuts in Varese – Women’s Double rower Katie Clark, Men’s Eight rower Liam Keane and Men’s Quad rowers Liam Smit and Steven Rosts. Smit also makes his Canadian team debut at any level after previously representing South Africa at the Under-23 level. Parfitt acknowledges this special moment in their careers in the senior program.

“It is always a special moment in any elite rower’s career making a senior team for the first time,” Parfitt said. “For Katie, Liam, Steven and Liam, this is a reward for their determination and commitment to earn their debut selections, something the coaches and I congratulate them all on achieving.”

For Clark, earning her senior debut is the result of hard work and a realisation of a goal that she made for herself and being able to debut with one of her best friends is an added bonus.

“I’m super excited to be making my senior team debut! This is an important step on the road to Paris next year. I couldn’t be more excited to make this step with one of my best friends,” Clark said. “I ended up with a pretty bad concussion earlier in the winter, and I was unsure how this spring racing season was going to unfold. So I couldn’t be more thrilled that it has unfolded like this. Getting the opportunity to race for my country is always good validation for the work that I put in each and every day. Marilou and I have specific parts of the race that we want to nail at World Cup 2 that will set us up to progress through our month in Europe. We’re super excited to get on the start line!”

World Cup II is the second leg of the World Rowing annual series of three regattas leading up to the World Rowing Championships. Each regatta is held over three days racing a progression system from heats through to finals. The Canadian World Cup Team will compete in Varese, Italy, and World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne, Switzerland on July 7-9. Canadian rowers will also compete at the historic Royal Henley Regatta, held on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England from Tuesday, 27 June to Sunday, 2 July. Additional team selections are being considered for the Royal Henley Regatta and World Cup III.

The focus then turns to the 2023 World Rowing Championships, in Belgrade, Serbia this September 3–10, as this will be the first opportunity to qualify Canadian boats for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

To support the national team, RCA has recently launched an initiative entitled Patrons for Paris to power the teams on their journey to the Paris 2024 Games.

We invite you to join the movement and become a valuable member of a supportive community that will embrace the team and help them achieve success on the international stage. 

LEARN MORE ABOUT PATRONS FOR PARIS

WORLD CUP II CANADIAN TEAM

Men’s Eight (M8+)

Will Crothers – Kingston Rowing Club

Liam Keane – Victoria City Rowing Club

Cody Bailey – London Western Rowing Club

Josh King – Ottawa Rowing Club

Luke Gadsdon – Leander Boat Club / Brock University

Gavin Stone – Queen’s University Rowing Club / Island Lake Rowing Club

Curtis Ames – Calgary Rowing Club

Jakub Buczek – St. Catharines Rowing Club

Laura Court (cox) – St. Catharines Rowing Club

Women’s Eight (W8+)

Morgan Rosts – Ridley Graduate Boat Club

Kirsten Edwards – University of Victoria Rowing Club

Alexis Cronk – University of Toronto Rowing Club

Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski – Club d’Aviron Knowlton

Sydney Payne – Brentwood College Rowing Club

Jessica Sevick – University of British Columbia / Calgary Rowing Club

Kristina Walker – Kingston Rowing Club / University of British Columbia Rowing Club

Avalon Wasteneys – University of Victoria Rowing Club

Kristen Kit (cox) – University of British Columbia / St. Catharines Rowing Club

Women’s Four (W4-)

Kristina Walker – Kingston Rowing Club / University of British Columbia Rowing Club

Avalon Wasteneys – University of Victoria Rowing Club

Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski – Club d’Aviron Knowlton

Alexis Cronk – University of Toronto Rowing Club

Women’s Four (W4-)

Morgan Rosts – Ridley Graduate Boat Club

Kirsten Edwards – University of Victoria Rowing Club

Jessica Sevick – University of British Columbia / Calgary Rowing Club

Sydney Payne – Brentwood College Rowing Club

Men’s Single (M1x)

Trevor Jones – Peterborough Rowing Club

Women’s Double (W2x)

Katie Clark – University of British Columbia Rowing Club

Marilou Duvernay-Tardif – Knowlton Rowing Club

Men’s Quad (M4x)

Liam Smit – University of British Columbia Rowing Club

Ryan Clegg – Western University Rowing Club

Terek Been – Montreal Rowing Club

Steven Rosts – Ridley Graduate Boat Club

Women’s Quad (W4x)

Shannon Kennedy – London Western Rowing Club

Grace VandenBroek – Peterborough Rowing Club/Trent University

Carling Zeeman – Sudbury Rowing Club

Elisa Bolinger – University of Western Ontario

Lightweight Women’s Double (LW2x)

Jill Moffatt – Western University Rowing Club

Jennifer Casson – Kingston Rowing Club

Alternates

Cassidy Deane – Kingston Rowing Club

Daniel de Groot – St. Catharines Rowing Club

Coaches

Lauren Fisher

Jeremy Ivey

Maksym Kepskyy

Carol Love

John Wetzstein

 

How to Follow World Cup II Racing

Follow all the action at www.worldrowing.com 

Schedule and results available at www.worldrowing.com 

Full crew entries available here

Jury selections available here