Canada’s defending-champion women’s eight rowing team has won a silver medal at the Paris Olympics.
Led by coxswain Kristen Kit and three other returnees from the Tokyo 2021 championship crew, the Canadians covered 2,000 metres in five minutes 58.84 seconds for a silver medal at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium in France.
Romania won gold in 5:54.39, with Great Britain (5:59..51) taking bronze.
“So much gratitude for these women. They [answered] every single call I asked them to do,” Kit told CBC Sports. “They dug way deeper than I’ve ever seen anyone dig. You can’t count out [Canadian women] until [the race] is done.”
Added Avalon Wasteneys, a member of the 2021 Olympic squad: “Right from the beginning, I think we all trusted each other, we believed in each other and we knew it was going to be a great, tough race.
“Off the start we went as hard as we could. We added some extra pushes. There were [times] when I had doubt but I just kept backing myself by believing in the girls around me because I knew we had such a strong crew. Kit was pushing us, pushing us, pushing us and we hung on and gave our best effort.”
Canada’s victory in 2021 ended a medal drought in the event dating to the London Games in 2012.
The Canadian women’s 8 crew clinched a berth for Paris last September with a fifth-place result (6:07.15) at the world championships in Belgrade, Serbia.
Canada found itself in a tight battle with Great Britain for second with 500 metres to go, but were able to hold off their rivals to claim silver.
The team returned four members from the Tokyo Games: Calgary’s Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski, Toronto’s Sydney Payne and Avalon Wasteneys of Campbell River, B.C., along with Kit of St. Catharines, Ont.
Abby Dent of Kenora, Ont., Victoria’s Caileigh Filmer, Maya Meschkuleit of Mississauga, Ont., Jessica Sevick of Strathmore, Alta., and Kristina Walker of Wolfe Island, Ont. are the other team members.
Canada qualified for Saturday’s final after finishing second (6:04.81) in Thursday’s repechage.
WATCH l How does rowing work at the Olympics?:
Not sure how rowing is scored or set up at the Olympics? This quick explainer will get you up to speed.