Bethany’s Moffatt secures berth in Paris Olympics
One local rower is headed to the 2024 Paris Olympics while two others did not make the cut for Rowing Canada crews headed to the lastchance qualifier.
The women’s lightweight double crew of Bethany’s Jill Moffatt and Kingston’s Jenny Casson will compete at World Cup 1 in Varese, Italy, from Friday to Sunday. The Tokyo Olympians had a breakthrough performance at the 2023 World Rowing Championships in Belgrade, finishing fourth and securing an Olympic berth. They were named Rowing Canada’s 2023 rowers of the year.
“We are very excited to start our racing season,” said Casson, in a Rowing Canada release. “With so few international racing starts, it is exciting to have the opportunity to test our speed against some international doubles this early in the year. We aim to learn something from each 2,000-metre race as we build toward Paris 2024. Being in Europe and racing the top crews at both World Cup events is the perfect opportunity to sharpen, evaluate and tune ourselves for the Olympics.”
They will be joined by the women’s coxed eight crew at World Cup 2 in Lucerne, Switzerland, from May 24 to 26. That Canadian boat will include four athletes from the gold-medal-winning team in Tokyo 2020: Avalon Wasteneys, Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski, Sydney Payne and coxswain Kristen Kit. Tokyo Olympians Kristina Walker and Jessica Sevick will add to the lineup in addition to 2023 Pan Am gold-medallist Abby Dent and rising star Maya Meschkuleit. The women’s eight has also qualified for Paris.
Both crews will return to Canada following their World Cup events for training in the lead-up to Paris. Further evaluation will be made to finalize the roster and nomination of the women’s Olympic eight, stated the news release.
Two more crews are headed straight to the last-chance qualifier in Lucerne, Switzerland, the weekend ahead of World Cup 2, from May 19 to 21.
Canada will send a men’s coxed eight and a women’s quadruple sculls boat with two Olympic quota spots up for grabs in each event.
Trevor Jones, from Burleigh Falls, who competed in the single men’s sculls at the Tokyo Olympics, and Douro-Dummer’s Grace VandenBroek, who rowed with the women’s quad at the 2023 World Rowing Championships, were not named to the last-chance qualifier.
In the men’s eight, three-time Olympian and Olympic silver-medallist Will Crothers will be looking for his fourth Olympic appearance in Paris alongside fellow Olympians Gavin Stone and Jakub Buczek, who rowed in the coxless four together in Tokyo, finishing eighth. Rising stars Curtis Ames, Jack Walkey, Joel Cullen, Ryan Clegg and Terek Been will also be powering the boat, steered by Paralympian coxswain Laura Court.
Familiar faces grace the Canadian women’s quadruple sculls team vying for a top-two finish and Olympic qualification, including twotime Olympian Carling Zeeman, Katie Clark, Marilou DuvernayTardiff and Shannon Kennedy.