The Canadian women’s eight crew, a blend of seasoned veterans and first-time Olympians, has captured the silver medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics. This marks the second consecutive Olympic medal for Canada in this event, following their gold at the Tokyo 2020 Games. 

At the Stade Nautique de Vaires-Sur-Marne, the journey began in the heats, where Canada faced formidable opponents including Great Britain and Australia. The race was fiercely competitive from the start, with Great Britain taking an early lead. Despite a strong challenge from Australia in the last 1000m, Great Britain secured the win with a time of 6:16.20, the second fastest overall in the heats. Canada, finishing third with a time of 6:21.31, moved on to the repechage, ready to fight for a spot in the final. 

In the repechage, the Canadian team led most of the race and ultimately secured a second-place finish with a time of 6:04.81, just behind the United States. Australia and Italy claimed the remaining spots for the final, making it a highly competitive lineup for the medal race. 

Reflecting on the crew’s progression to the final, first-time Olympian, Abby Dent, remarked, “Our heats race was a little rough, but I think we worked out some of the errors and we do well when we feel backed into a corner. The repechage race was exciting – we went out there and gave it everything, but we were really excited to show the world what we had today.” 

In the Olympic final, the Canadian crew of Jessica Sevick (bow), Caileigh Filmer, Maya Meschkuleit, Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski, Avalon Wasteneys, Sydney Payne, Kristina Walker, Abby Dent (stroke), and coxswain Kristen Kit faced a field packed with World and Olympic medalists from Great Britain, Australia, Romania, Italy, and the United States. 

In an intense and thrilling race, the Canadians locked in the second-place position early and held their ground to secure the silver medal. Kristen Kit, Tokyo 2020 Gold medalist and Rio 2016 Paralympic bronze medalist, reflected on the final race, saying, “We had a lot of calls for not looking out of the boat and these women have to trust that I’m calling the right things, telling them where they are on the racecourse, helping them with the best steering – it’s actually a really big responsibility. It’s a gift though, because I get to do it for them, and they get to do it for me. It’s a symbiotic relationship. It’s amazing because I get to be a part of something that’s bigger than me.” 

Avalon Wasteneys, a returner from the Tokyo 2020 gold medalist eight, also highlighted the crew’s resilience and unity, saying, “Right from the beginning I think we all really trusted each other, and we knew it was going to be a really tough start and a really gritty race. We added some extra pushes in there, and there were times when I had moments of doubt, but I just kept backing myself by believing these girls around me because I knew we had such a strong crew. Right to the end, [Kristen] Kit was just pushing us and pushing us, and we hung on and gave our best effort.” 

Kit emphasized the importance of teamwork, adding, “The eight is all about getting it off the start fast and sticking together. The pressure to not look out of the boat, and the pressure to not go by yourself, is really hard. At an Olympic Games you want to go, and you feel like you can go, but it has to be on the coxswain’s call, and it has to be together. Today we really executed that. We didn’t have the greatest start, but we did do it together and after the start, we kept pulling together. I think that’s why we were able to come out with a silver medal.”