Thursday July 29, 2021 – Tokyo, Japan
IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Caileigh Filmer (University of Victoria) and Hillary Janssens (University of British Columbia) rowed to a bronze medal in the women’s pair on Thursday, Canada’s first rowing medal of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Filmer and Janssens had a bold start, taking the lead early on and moving into second at the 1500 metre mark. They battled with crews from New Zealand, Great Britain, and the Russian Olympic Committee for a spot on the podium, and remained strong and composed to cross the finish line third (6:52.10).

“We just know that we are amongst the fittest in the world, so we knew if we go as fast as we can in the first 500 that we’ve trained five years to be able to row 2k, so we could do it,” said Janssens. “I feel so privileged to be able to do this. Not many people in their lives get to pursue something that they really care about this much and we’re very lucky to be here.”

This is the first Olympic medal for both Filmer, who competed in the women’s eight in Rio, and Janssens, who made her Olympic debut in Tokyo.

“We told ourselves that the first half we were going to race physically, the second half we were going to race with our hearts,” said Filmer. “We’re lucky enough that, in our pair, we’re rowing with the number one person in the world that we want to row with. Hil’s my best friend, my favourite partner, and it just makes it so fun to be out there together. We told ourselves that we just wanted to enjoy every second.”

Kai Langerfeld (University of Victoria) and Conlin McCabe (Brockville Rowing Club) gave another thrilling performance in the men’s pair A final, moving up from sixth position at the halfway mark to challenge for the bronze medal. Canada was neck in neck with Denmark for the last few metres, finishing 0.55 seconds behind the Danish crew of Frederic Vystavel and Joachim Sutton to place fourth in the world.

“It was really close,” said McCabe. “We had a great sprint, a great start. We left it all out there. Super proud with how we rowed that. We were just going as fast as we could, it felt like the boat was flying underneath us. We were taking great strokes, we were going so fast in these conditions.”

Canada’s lightweight double crews closed out their Tokyo 2020 experience on Thursday with races in the B finals. Patrick Keane (Victoria City Rowing Club/University of Victoria) and Maxwell Lattimer (University of British Columbia) took fourth in the close lightweight men’s double race (6:17.60) to finish tenth overall. The lightweight women’s double of Jennifer Casson (Kingston Rowing Club) and Jill Moffatt (Western University) crossed the line sixth (6:59.72) to finish twelfth overall.

Two more Canadian crews will race in B finals, with Carling Zeeman (Sudbury Rowing Club) finishing fifth (7:38.28) and Trevor Jones (Peterborough Rowing Club) finishing sixth (7:06.18) in their respective A/B semifinals.

The Olympic rowing regatta concludes tomorrow, Friday July 30 Japan Standard Time (Thursday July 29 Pacific Time/Eastern Time), with Canada racing in the women’s eight A final and the men’s and women’s single B finals.

Team Canada Results and Progressions

Men’s Single – Trevor Jones
1^st in Heat > 2^nd in Quarterfinal > 6^th in A/B Semifinal > B Final

Women’s Single – Carling Zeeman
2^nd in Heat > 2^nd in Quarterfinal > 5^th in A/B Semifinal > B Final

Women’s Double – Jessica Sevick & Gabrielle Smith
2^nd in Heat > 2^nd in A/B Semifinal > 6^th in A Final > 6^th Place

Women’s Pair – Caileigh Filmer & Hillary Janssens
1^st in Heat > 3^rd in A/B Semifinal > 3^rd in A Final > BRONZE

Men’s Pair – Kai Langerfeld & Conlin McCabe
3^rd in Heat > 3^rd in A/B Semifinal > 4^th in A Final > 4^th Place

Lightweight Women’s Double – Jennifer Casson & Jill Moffatt
2^nd in Heat > 6^th in A/B Semifinal > 6^th in B Final > 12^th Place

Lightweight Men’s Double – Patrick Keane & Maxwell Lattimer
3^rd in Heat > 2^nd in Repechage > 5^th in A/B Semifinal > 4^th in B Final > 10^th Place

Women’s Four – Stephanie Grauer, Nicole Hare, Jennifer Martins & Kristina Walker
3^rd in Heat > 4^th in Repechage > 4^th in B Final > 10^th Place

Men’s Four – Jakub Buczek, Will Crothers, Luke Gadsdon & Gavin Stone
5^th in Heat > 4^th in Repechage > 2^nd in B Final > 8^th Place

Women’s Eight – Susanne Grainger, Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski, Kristen Kit, Madison Mailey, Sydney Payne, Andrea Proske, Lisa Roman, Christine Roper & Avalon Wasteneys
2^nd in Heat > 2^nd in Repechage > A Final

More information on the Tokyo 2020 regatta and the 10 Canadian crews competing can be found here.

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Join the conversation @rowingcanada: #tokyo2020 #rowingcanada #truenorthstrong #teamcanada

For more information:
Colleen Coderre (Tokyo based)
RCA Communications Lead
comm@rowingcanada.org

Liz Montroy (Canada based)
RCA Communications and Events Coordinator
lmontroy@rowingcanada.org