The Canadian women’s eight is off to the A Final on Saturday with a 2^nd place finish in the repechage today. The top 4 boats locked up their spot in the Olympic final with the United States winning the repechage with a time of 6:03.93. Canada led most of the race and came across the line in 6:04.81. Australia (6:06.09) and Italy (6:09.65) snagged the two final spots in 3^rd and 4^th respectively.

The repechage proved to be a much faster race for Canada, having finished 3^rd in the heat on Monday with a time of 6:21.31.

“We went into this race focusing on our start,” said 2-time Olympian Kristina Walker. “We tend to be middle pacers and I think we let our start slide a bit too much in our heat. Focusing more on our start helped us project into the pack and move much faster.”

The women’s eight A final will take place on Saturday, August 3^rd at 1:50amPT, 4:50am EST, 10:50am local time. 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 are looking forward to the possibilities of standing on the Olympic podium. 

“In the Olympic final, all bets are off,” said coxswain and two-time Olympian, Kristen Kit (St. Catharines, Ontario). “Anyone can take the gold and it’s all about who’s the best on that day.”

It’s a stacked field of World and Olympic medalists including Great Britain, Australia, Romania, Italy and the United States.

First-time Olympian Abby Dent (Kenora, Ontario) is also confident they have more in the tank for the A Final.  “I’m excited to see what this crew can lay down for the world on Saturday. I think we’ve got more in store here!”

The lightweight double duo, Jenny Casson (Kingston, Ontario) and Jill Moffatt (Bethany, Ontario) will battle in the B Final tomorrow at 2:18am PST, 5:18am EST, 11:18am local time.