The Mount Douglas Secondary graduate, the youngest Canadian rower in the Rio Olympics, is living up to expectations as she stroked sa国际传媒 to the gold medal in the women鈥檚 eight this week at the world U-23 rowing championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
鈥淚t was an incredible day to be able to represent the Maple Leaf,鈥� said Filmer, in a statement.
鈥淲e had a challenging high volume, high intensity training program that allowed us to trust in our abilities and leave any doubts behind us going into racing. We stuck to our plan to be relentless in the middle 1,000 metres, trusting that we were ready for whatever it would take to win. It was surreal singing the national anthem while the Canadian flag was raised.鈥�
The Canadian surge relegated the Americans and Russians to the minor medal placings.
The other Canadian crew members were Morgan Rosts, Antonia Frappell, Madison Mailey, Sydney Payne, Karen Lefsrud, Stephanie Grauer, Julia Vander Hoeven and Laura Court.
Filmer, who had been rowing in the NCAA Pac-12 at Cal-Berkeley for the Bears, will move back and row for her hometown University of Victoria Vikes beginning in the fall. It completes a family legacy as her mother, Helena, also rowed for the UVic Vikes. Sport is a common theme that runs through her family 鈥� Filmer鈥檚 uncle is Victoria Shamrocks head coach Bob Heyes.
鈥淰ictoria is home for me, which makes me excited about my return,鈥� said Filmer, a product of the Victoria City Rowing Club.
鈥淭he [UVic Vikes] team has an incredible culture and legacy. Team culture is most important to me, as it can either help excel or inhibit performance.鈥�
Filmer is right in that regard and has a lot of Vikes history to look up to, including on the women鈥檚 side, the silver medal in the eight at the 2012 London Olympics by UVic alumni rowers Darcy Marquardt and Rachel Viinberg, double Olympic gold by UVic鈥檚 Kirsten Barnes at Barcelona in 1992, and Vikes-alumni Silken Laumann鈥檚 lauded Olympic heroics.
Meanwhile, Trevor Jones of Victoria won gold for sa国际传媒 in the men鈥檚 single sculls at the world U-23 championships with Kyle Schoonbee of South Africa the silver medallist and Natan Wegrzycki-Szymczyk of Poland the bronze medallist.
鈥淚 wanted to just stick to my plan. I stuck with the pack off the start, I didn鈥檛 want to drop off. Then I attacked in the middle thousand and just emptied the tank,鈥� said Jones.
There was also a close call for Patrick Keane of Victoria and Aaron Lattimer of Delta with a fourth place in the lightweight men鈥檚 double at the U-23 worlds. Ty Adams and Luc Brodeur, who row with Keane in the UVic Vikes program, won the B final of the lightweight quad sculls.
