Rower on top of the world

Four hours a day of training pays off with World U23 single sculls gold for rower Trevor Jones

Trevor Jones returned to Burleigh Falls a gold medalist Monday after winning the men’s singles sculls at the 2017 World Under-23 Rowing Championships in Bulgaria.

Jones, 19, won the race on Sunday, setting a new personal best of 6:49.35.

“It’s my first international medal so it’s something I’ll cherish for the rest of my life,” said Jones.

The Trent University student raced at the same championships last year in a double, finishing fifth.

Since that time, Jones has trained about four hours a day to get his speed up.

“Ever since then, I’ve been training just to win,” he said.

In fact, Jones has been training to win for years, or even just to get a chance to compete. He took up rowing five years ago.

The Lakefield College School graduate was turned down twice from Rowing Canada’s Row to Podium program.

He made it the third time around and has been training under Carol Love at the Trent Athletics Centre and Peterborough Rowing Club for about three years.

Striving to constantly get better is what has helped motivate the teenager.

“You can always train harder, you can always improve technically – I enjoy working every day to become better. It’s a fun process for me so I never really thought of it as a challenge, even though it is a challenge,” he said.

With that in mind, Jones’s advice to others who may not reach their goal the first time around is just to keep trying.

“It’s a mix of never wanting to give up and never accepting you’re not good enough. You’ve got to take that and go forward and use it as motivation to get better.”

Before Jones’s big win in Bulgaria, he competed at the World Cup on Team Canada in Switzerland, finishing 14th overall.

Now he’s off to the Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg on Friday. He’s representing Ontario, racing singles and doubles.

In the fall, Jones will go into his third year of studying science at Trent.

By the time he graduates, the Burleigh Falls resident will then have a year before what he hopes will be the biggest race of his career to date.

“The end goal is the Olympics, 2020.”

CLIFFORD SKARSTEDT/EXAMINER Rower Trevor Jones, 19, of Burleigh Falls, with his gold medal on Tuesday at the Peterborough Rowing Club. Jones won the men's single sculls gold medal at the World Under-23 Rowing Championships in Bulgaria on Sunday. He set a personal best 6:49.35 to beat South Africa's Kyle Schoonbee by 2 1/2 seconds. Now heès preparing for the Canada Summer Games. Ultimately he would like to get to the 2020 Olympics.

IGOR MEIJOR/WORLD ROWING PHOTO Trevor Jones races to his gold medal finish in men's single sculls at the World U23 Rowing Championships in Bulgaria.