VandenBroek ready for U23 debut
Grace VandenBroek dipped her toe into international rowing waters last year.
This year, she’s diving in. In 2017, the Douro teen made her international rowing debut winning a bronze medal in a women’s double with B.C.’s Kieanna Stephens at the World Junior Rowing Championships in Lithuania.
With Stephens sidelined this summer by a back injury, VandenBroek will return to the
World Junior Championships but this time in single sculls Aug. 8 to 12 in Racice, Czech Republic.
She also caught the eye of Rowing Canada’s under-23 coaches and was named to a women’s quad to compete at the 2018 World Rowing U23 Championships July 25 to 29 in Poznan, Poland.
She is also under consideration to represent Canada at the World Youth Olympics in Argentina in November. That team has not yet been announced.
VandenBroek, who will begin studies at Trent University this fall after graduating from St. Peter Secondary School, said she was shocked to get the U23 invitation as the youngest rower on the team at 18. It was a bit of a surprise when she was asked late in the national team trials to jump in a quad with older girls.
“They wanted to see if it would work out and it did which changed my plans for the summer,” VandenBroek said.
“I now have the opportunity to go to two worlds which I’m superstoked for.”
VandenBroek and Stephens had hoped to row together again this summer.
“She’s been dealing with a back injury for the last few months so she decided she was going to take herself out for the summer and just focus on getting better and back to 100 per cent,” VandenBroek said.
“I know it was a difficult decision for her to make but I think, in the end, it will be what is best for her. That was a big change, too. We had hoped to go back in the double but things changed. I’m really excited to go in a single now.”
VandenBroek is a national championship in the single but hasn’t competed internationally on her own. She’ll be accompanied by her coach Carol Love who first recruited her for Rowing Canada’s NextGen Hub at Trent University and Peterborough Rowing Club.
“It’s something I’m nervous but an excited nervous for,” she said.
“It’s going to be interesting being out there all on my own.
I’m just going to try to treat it like any other regatta.”
She says it’s hard to know what her medal chances might be.
“I’m kind of going in blind. I’m going to do the same thing I did in the double last year. I’m going to go race my own race and what happens, happens. I’m just going to fight like crazy to do the best I can.”
For now, she’s in London focusing on the quad.
“It’s a cool dynamic. It’s a lot quicker, a lot faster and it’s really fun,” she said.
“It’s been really cool getting to know each of the girls. It’s been just over a week that we’ve been together.
“We want to do our best and I think we have a really good shot but we don’t know where we stand against the rest of the world. The other three girls have never been to a world event before and this will be my first U23 event so we’re going to go in and do our thing.”
It’s been quite a rise from having no rowing experience to being world class in two years.
“When I first started rowing I was nervous to go away for a weekend to Welland, Ont. Now, I’m getting the opportunity to spend a significant amount of time in Europe and travelling on my own. It’s really cool. My world has definitely changed drastically.”