Canadian rowers Kylie Filmer and Hilary Janssens take bronze in Tokyo

It is Canada’s first medal in rowing in the Japanese capital and tenth overall. So far, mathematicians have won all of them.

The 2018 World Champions, Fillmer and Janssens finished behind the New Zealanders and athletes in the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC).

The Canadian duo got off to a great start and quickly advanced by nearly one boat over New Zealand actors Grace Prendergast and Keri Gowler.

Filmer and Janssens were still ahead after 1,000 metres, but the gap between them and their pursuer had been cut in half.

In the second part of the race, the New Zealand rowers managed to take the lead. Meanwhile, athletes from the Russian Olympic Committee worked hard to raise the rating. Fourth from the start, Vasilisa Stepanova and Elena Orabinskaya met with Canadians who were showing signs of fatigue.

The Canadians maintained their place on the podium. They clocked a time of 6.52 1/10, 1.91 seconds off the lead, and 65 hundredths of a second for the silver medalists.

Our goal was simple. We felt we still had energy and wanted to give it all. We wanted to hurt that’s what we did! Very proud of her team’s performance, said Hilary Janssens. She took the opportunity to throw flowers to her teammate.

We wanted to leave quickly in the outer lane and we knew we would have to work hard. It was easy for me, I just had to listen to Kylie, who drove a perfect race!

I didn’t watch it from the first mile, because we just wanted to go fast! We wanted to have an aggressive race and the last mile was tough. We did it with our heartFilmer pointed out.

This medal completes an Olympic cycle she has been trying. It also shows all the resilience that Canadians have shown, including Kylie Filmer. The 24-year-old felt the need to take a three-month break in 2019 to take care of his mental health. She had not been to the World Cup, but she returned to the worlds.

The British-Colombian duo found themselves in this competition and took the bronze medal, in addition to qualifying their boat for the Olympics. Of course, the pandemic then complicates matters.

It’s been a long hard year, said Hilary Jansen, weeping, while her compatriot was beside her. We are so happy to come here and leave with a medal.

Kylie Filmer and Hilary Jansen easily qualified for the semi-finals at the start of the competition. They dominated their race from start to finish to score the best time in the Elimination Round.

Then the two Canadians secured their tickets to Final A in an exciting race. They finished third in the semi-finals behind the Greek and British rowers.

Filmer participated in the Olympic Games in Rio as a member of the women’s eighth team, which then placed fifth. Hilary Janssens competed in her first Olympic Games in Tokyo and was a reservist in 2016.

Kai Langerfeld and Conlin McCabe on the podium

A little earlier, on the men’s side, Kai Langerfield and Conlin McCabe came close to making a surprise first and second place. In a heated battle with the Danes for bronze, they had to settle for fourth.

After setting the sixth fastest time in the semi-finals, the two Canadians upset their opponents in the Grand Final, in which six nations participated.

Favoring the race, Croatian brothers Martin and Valent Senkovic took the gold medal in 6:15.29. Romanian Marius Kuzmiuk and Cyprian Todosa (6:16.58) followed in silver, while the Danes (6:19.88) outperformed the Canadians (6:20.43).

Langerfeld and McCabe fought their first tough race in Tokyo in the preliminary round. They were able to recover in the semi-finals with third place in their wave.