The women’s lightweight double duo, Jenny Casson (Kingston, Ontario) and Jill Moffatt (Bethany, Ontario) raced in a stacked A/B semi-final today at the Stade Nautique de Vaires-Sur-Marne in Paris, France. This penultimate race decides who will be vying for the podium in the A Final on Friday with the top three boats advancing from the semi-finals.

The Canadian crew raced in Lane 1 beside the United States, Great Britain, New Zealand, Poland and Argentina. Great Britain took an early lead with New Zealand close behind, the United States in 3rd, Canada and Poland in 4^th and 5^th respectively. Great Britain and New Zealand extended their leads even further through the 1000m mark and the United States sat comfortably in the last qualifying position. Poland managed to overtake Canada in the last 500m to secure 4^th place, with Canada settling for 5^th.

“We were just not fast enough today,” Casson said emotionally.  “We have so many supporters that were there for us and we told them we could do something special, and we couldn’t do that today.”

The Canadians will battle in the B Final on Friday, August 2^nd.

“Ending my rowing career with a 4th place finish [at 2023 World Championships] being my best result is really tough. We will do our best in the B Final and we will rally but we are definitely going to have to process some of these emotions.”

The Canadian women’s eight will race the repechage tomorrow at 10:10am local time, 4:10am EST, 1:10am PST. The top four boats will qualify for the A Final on Saturday, August 3^rd.