Community News/ Aug 6

Whittard Making Mark at International Level

It’s been a busy five years on the regatta course for St. Catharine’s Cait Whittard.

An impressive run at the international level for the 20-year-old continued this summer at the 2025 U23 World Rowing Championship in Poznan, Poland where she earned a bronze medal as a member of the Team Canada’s women’s eight. The podium finish was a first for Whittard at a world championship event and points to the strides she’s made as a competitive rower since committing to full-time rowing training at the Ontario NextGen Performance Centre in September 2020.

Whittard got her start in rowing at Denis Morris High School in the ninth grade and joined the St. Catharines Rowing Club the following summer. Several coaches in those formative years played a role in her early development as a rower and her beginnings in the sport also instilled a passion for rowing, which still burns brightly as she continues to progress to the next level.

“Rowing for Denis Morris was where I had a found my love for it, the early winter mornings in the halls of the school might not seem fun but the group of people and coaches when I was rowing there instilled grit and helped us have fun while doing it,” recalled Whittard. “My first summer at SCRC is what made me want to continue in the sport. I met so many people and some who I’m still friends with to this day. My coaches Janet Lancaster, Liz Iannizi and Liz Harold at SCRC and Richard Moreau, Joe Cosby from Denis Morris helped me build a foundation.”

The Ontario NextGen Performance Centre opened its doors in September 2020 and Whittard was among the inaugural group of rowers to train at the Centre. With much of the 2020 and 2021 regatta seasons cancelled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the athletes focused on training for almost a year once the Centre opened before competing in an organized regatta setting. Thanks to a partnership with HUDSON Boatworks, the ONGPC athletes have exclusively trained in Ultimate Shark Predator singles since the opening of the Centre. HUDSON has been a huge contributor to NextGen programming nationwide for athletes like Whittard, and the bronze medal won in Poznan for the women’s eight was also in a HUDSON boat.

Whittard got her first taste of international competition once organized regattas resumed at the 2021 CanAmMex Regatta. She capped off the 2021 season by competing at the National Rowing Championships, where racing against competitors with much more experience, she qualified for the B Final in the women’s single and placed first overall among junior women. Building off that result, she earned a spot on her first world championship team in 2022. Whittard and partner Anna Pamenter raced to a seventh-place finish in the women’s double at the U19 World Rowing Championships in Varese, Italy. Just a few weeks later she was back on her home waters in St. Catharines, racing as part of Team Ontario at the 2022 Canada Summer Games. She earned two gold medals at the CSG in the women’s double and quad. Her breakthrough season in 2022 led her to being named the RCA Junior Women’s Athlete of the Year.

Whittard left the daily ONGPC training environment in September 2022 when she headed south to attend university in the United States. She learned a lot over her time at the ONGPC, including training habits that continue to help her today.

“The ONGPC changed everything for me,” said Whittard. “They coached me on technique, fitness, nutrition and as a whole athlete, all of which helped make me a high-performance athlete. With the support of the Centre, I was able to further my rowing at the University of Washington and make the junior national team back in 2022. The Centre continues to support me with open arms whenever I am home giving me a space to train with high performance coaches as well as a place to talk and help me find ways to make myself better. The coaches helped form a fun, hard and supportive culture leaving me with the best memories that I still look back on and my closest friends. Coaches Greg Szybka, Chris Marshall and Amanda Schweinbenz are why I have been able to get to where I am now.”

Following her first year of university she trained at the ONGPC during the summer of 2023, where she focused on training and preparing for the 2024 university rowing season. The preparation paid off, as she helped the University of Washington women’s eight to a fourth-place finish at the 2024 NCAA Rowing Championships. Later that summer she competed at her second World Rowing Championships, this time as an U23 athlete and member of the women’s eight. The 2024 MEGA World Rowing Championships were taking place in Whittard’s hometown of St. Catharines, where she was able to compete in front of family and friends on her home course. The U23 women’s eight finished seventh in St. Catharines, making the result last week in Poznan an impressive climb up the rankings in just one year’s time.

Whittard pulled double duty at the 2025 U23 Worlds, racing in the eight as well as the women’s pair. The eight qualified for the A Final after a second-place finish in their opening heat. In the final, they were neck-and-neck with the USA at the 1000m mark in a battle for second place, but as the race progressed the Americans pulled ahead leaving Canada in a tight race for bronze with Germany. In the end, Canada outlasted the Germans, finishing ahead of them by 1.3 seconds in a time of 6:19.37 to win the bronze medal. In the pair, Whittard narrowly missed a second medal as she and partner Maylie Valiquette placed fourth in the A Final in a time of 7:12.07.

With three World Rowing Championships under her belt and her first world championship medal, Whittard has her sights set on the future and continuing to progress at the national team level.

“With the World Championships now over my plan is to go back to school where we’ll do mostly inter-squad racing this fall and then lots of racing come spring,” said Whittard. “I think this fall is about really seeing some progress in the erg and weight room to support my rowing and post collegiate rowing aspirations with the national team. Katie Steenman, my U23 coach, has been a big supporter of mine while rowing for Washington in the US and Canada in the summer so I’ll be continuing to communicate and work with her through the year to make the improvements needed to hopefully have the opportunity to find more success next summer. This summer would have not been possible without Katie and with many ups and downs she has really helped me find my way to success this summer.”