Canada captured a well-deserved silver medal in the women’s eight A final at the world rowing championships Sunday in Bulgaria.
Contributing to the win were a pair of Burnaby Lake Rowing Club athletes, Stephanie Grauer and Madison Mailey.
Canada placed second behind the U.S. and turned a fourth-place position at the halfway mark into a thrilling duel down the stretch.
Overtaking the powerful Netherlands team, the Canadian eight closed the gap on Australia for a photo finish, with the difference between second and third an eighth of a second (6:03.05). The U.S. won with a time of 6:00:97.
“Going into this A-Final we had to be mentally tough as we had a lane that was not favoured so we needed to pull together and commit to that mental strength,” said Jen Martins.
It was Canada’s second straight silver medal at the worlds, having achieved that feat in 2017 with nearly the same crew.
But both Grauer and Mailey were new additions, having moved up from the under-23 national boat.
“It is a really big honour to race in this boat with these girls because they have so much combined experience from previous world championships and Olympic Games,” said Grauer, a member of the u23 W8+ gold medal team. “They have been my idols, and to have an amazing regatta like this really speaks to their leadership on and off the water.”
