Weekend Wrap: Team Canada Wins Two Medals at FISU Worlds
The top university rowers from around the world were in London, ON over the weekend to compete in the 2026 FISU World University Rowing Championships.
A total of 20 countries participated in the three-day regatta, which took place from Aug. 13-15 on Fanshawe Lake and marked the first time the event was hosted in Canada. The competing nations covered four continents and included Australia, Austria, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, and United States.
Team Canada’s entry in the event consisted of 34 athletes competing in a total of nine boats. The top performing boat for Canada was the Brock University duo of Keithan Woodhouse and Charles-Etienne Tabet, who claimed the gold medal in the men’s double. Woodhouse and Tabet began their regatta by placing first in their opening round heat on Friday, sending them to Sunday’s A Final. In the final, they jumped out to an early lead and were three seconds ahead of second-place United States at the 500m mark. Despite a late push by the US crew, they held on to the lead through the finish line, crossing the line two seconds ahead of the US in a time of 6:38.56.
About two hours before the men’s double won gold, Team Canada won its first medal of the regatta – a bronze in the men’s four. The quartet of Gabe Dyer (University of Victoria / Cambridge Rowing Club), Aidan Hembruff (Western University / Ottawa Rowing Club), Oliver Baker (Western University / North Star Rowing Club), and Simon Whittaker (University of Victoria / Hanlan Boat Club) earned the bronze with a hard fought performance in the final. They battled throughout the race and were in a solid third-place position at every split, eventually crossing the finish line in a time of 6:11.32 behind Italy (6:04.98) and the United Kingdom (6:05.78).
In addition to their podium finishes, Team Canada had several other strong performances at the regatta. They narrowly missed the podium in the women’s single, women’s pair, women’s eight and men’s eight, coming in fourth place in each event. The overall medal tally was won by Italy (4 gold, 2 silver 4 bronze), who medalled in ten of the eleven categories, followed by the United Kingdom with seven (1 gold, 6 silver) and Germany (2 gold, 2 bronze) and the Netherlands (2 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze) with four apiece. The United States (silver), Spain (bronze), and Japan (bronze) each earned one medal.
While the FISU Worlds were going full steam in London, the North-West International Regatta Association (NWIRA) hosted the NWIRA Championship Regatta in Kenora, ON. Hosted on Rabbit Lake, this year’s event was the 121st annual regatta in the association’s history and featured 12 clubs and 475 entries. The 475 entries were an increase of 56 entries from 2025 and came from clubs from Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Minnesota. The regatta had a full complement of race categories from junior to masters.
The Thunder Bay Rowing Club sent a strong contingent of rowers to the regatta with 56 entries, which resulted in 22 medals (10 gold, 7 silver, 5 bronze). The 22 medals were good for fourth overall in the medal standings, behind the Minneapolis Rowing Club (39), Duluth Rowing Club (25) and Long Lake Rowing Crew (23), while the ten gold medals were second overall behind the Minnesota Rowing Club’s eleven.
For full results from the FISU World University Rowing Championships, visit Regatta Master.
For full results from the 121st NWIRA Championships, visit RegattaCentral
For the full regatta schedule in Ontario, visit the Row Ontario website.
Picture is property of Rowing Canada Aviron
