Ontario Earns 11 Gold, 2 Silver Medals at 2022 CSG
In front of an enthusiastic crowd and competing in their home provinces waters on Martindale Pond in St. Catharines, the Team Ontario rowing team put on a dominant performance over the weekend in winning 11 gold and two silver medals in 14 events at the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games.
After completing the preliminary round of competition on Wednesday and Thursday last week, a break in the competition on Friday preceded the 14 medal finals and 14 consolation finals that took place over the course of Saturday and Sunday. Ontario qualified all 14 of their boats for the medal finals after a strong preliminary round which saw 12 boats win their qualifying heats while two finished in second place.
The first gold medal of the CSG regatta was won by Team Ontario’s Hailey Mercuri, who placed first in the women’s single in a time of 7:36.89. Mercuri finished second to Nova Scotia’s Claire Ellison in their preliminary heat on Wednesday but came out of the gates strong on Saturday morning and topped Ellison for the gold in just over five seconds.
The men’s quad (Stephen Harris, Lucas Maroney, Owen Bartel, Alessio Perco) claimed the next gold for Ontario in a close race, besting BC by half a second in a time of 6:06.98. Their win kicked off a successful run for Team Ontario as they claimed gold medals in five consecutive races to end the day. The women’s pair of Maya Meschkuleit and Stella Bittman were next up and won their race in a time of 7:38.98. The women’s quad, which featured Cait Whittard, Anna Pamenter, Fiona Elliott and Madeson Scott claimed the gold in a time of 7:03.86 and the lightweight women’s double (Julia Teixeira and Zoe Durcak) looked strong in winning their race in a time of 7:43.02. The men’s eight capped off the day with an exciting race that went wire-to-wire and saw them top Team BC by .42 seconds in a time of 6:00.21.
“Staying composed when BC got out ahead and staying committed to each and finding that pain,” said the men’s eight’s Michael Ciepiela when asked what the key to their gold medal victory was. “And when it came, we asked for more and just pushed ahead.”
The other Ontario boat in the water on Saturday was the men’s pair of Shane Keagan and Kai Bartel who finished just off the podium in the fourth. Both rowers returned later in the day to help the men’s eight to their gold.
All seven Team Ontario boats that competed on Sunday made it to the podium as they won five gold and two silver medals. Gold medals were won by Harris in the men’s single (6:50.96), Whittard and Pamenter in the women’s double (7:03.43), Ciepiela, Payton Gauthier, Aidan Hembruff and Niko Schramm in the men’s four (5:58.11), Harris and Perco in the lightweight men’s double (6:12.27), and the women’s eight, who topped BC by three seconds in a time of 6:12.27.
For Whittard and Pamenter, their victory ended a successful run for the duo, which saw them compete together in the women’s double throughout the summer including at the World Rowing U19 Championships in Varese, Italy in July.
“We knew it was going to be a tough race,” said Whittard. “Quebec really pushed us in the heats, so we just wanted to get off the line and see what we can do. It’s been a long summer with a lot of tough workouts that don’t make you feel awesome, but in these moments, it makes it worth it.”
“We were just hoping to go out and race our last race together and get the gold, so we’re happy with the result,” added Pamenter on their gold medal win.
Claiming silver medals on Sunday was the women’s four (Meschkuleit, Elliott, Mercuri, and Malarie Jones), who finished second to BC in a time of 6:40.27 and the men’s double (Maroney and O. Bartel) who also placed second to BC in a time of 6:25.19.
Many of the Team Ontario rowers earned multiple medals at the Games, while three earned three medals. Harris was the lone athlete to earn three golds (M1x, LM2x, M4x) while Meschkuleit (W2-, W4-, W8+) and Mercuri (W1x, W4-, W8+) each earned two golds and one silver.
Sunday was the final day of competition for all 2022 CSG sports. Ontario came out on top in the medal standings with 198 medals (86 gold, 60 silver, 52 bronze), followed by Quebec with 142 (49 gold, 51 silver, 42 bronze) and BC with 128 (34 gold, 51 silver, 43 bronze). Alberta won the CSG’s Centennial Cup which measures improvements from one Canada Games to the next.
Relive the rowing medal rounds below:
Saturday, Aug. 20
Sunday, Aug. 21
Team Ontario Rowing Results
Women’s 8+: Gold Medal
Stella Bittman
Zoe Durcak
Fiona Elliott
Malarie Jones
Hailey Mercuri
Maya Meschkuleit
Teagan Orth
Julia Teixeira
Georgia Greenwood (Coxswain)
Women’s 4-: Silver Medal
Fiona Elliott
Malarie Jones
Hailey Mercuri
Maya Meschkuleit
Women’s 4x: Gold Medal
Fiona Elliott
Anna Pamenter
Madeson Scott
Cait Whittard
Women’s 2-: Gold Medal
Stella Bittman
Maya Meschkuleit
Women’s 2x: Gold Medal
Anna Pamenter
Cait Whittard
Women’s Lightweight 2x: Gold Medal
Zoe Durcak
Julia Teixeira
Women’s 1x: Gold Medal
Hailey Mercuri
Men’s 8+: Gold Medal
Kai Bartel
Adrian Breen
Michael Ciepiela
Preston Darling
Payton Gauthier
Aidan Hembruff
Shane Keagan
Niko Schramm
Riley Pizek (Coxswain)
Men’s 4-: Gold Medal
Michael Ciepiela
Payton Gauthier
Aidan Hembruff
Niko Schramm
Men’s 4x: Gold Medal
Owen Bartel
Stephen Harris
Lucas Maroney
Alessio Perco
Men’s 2-: 4th Place
Kai Bartel
Shane Keagan
Men’s 2x: Gold Medal
Owen Bartel
Lucas Maroney
Men’s Lightweight 2x: Gold Medal
Stephen Harris
Alessio Perco
Men’s 1x: Gold Medal
Stephen Harris
