Excalibur Rower Grace VandenBroek selected to third U23 World Rowing Championships
Trent Excalibur rower is headed to her third World U23 Championships, representing Canada in Czech Republic
Over the years, Grace VandenBroek has shown her rowing talents in international competitions, representing Canada a total of five times since 2017, including two World Junior Championships (earning a bronze medal in 2017) along with her three World U23 Championship appearances.
“Every time you remember how exciting and awesome it is to represent your country,” said Grace. “It’s hard to understand the impact of it in the moment, but I don’t take any of it for granted and I always look forward to going and seeing where I am compared to the rest of the world.”
Off the water, Grace has excelled academically. Entering her fourth year of study in the Business Administration program at Trent, she has been able to balance both academics and elite rowing, shining in the classroom and on the water.
“The best thing I do is plan out my schedule and plan out what’s coming down the line,” explained Grace. “I know when to push more at training when my school schedule lighter or when I need to back-off training a bit, but still know the big picture.”
Training in the Rowing Canada NextGen program, her big picture goal remains the Olympic Games. Although she will not be representing Canada at the Tokyo Games this summer, she has her eyes set on the next Olympic quadrennial.
Working closely with NextGen coach and athlete mentor, Carol Love, Grace continues to develop her skills - something that Ms. Love believes will lead to Grace to the next level of her rowing career.
“She’s part of our next generation group that will be our future sculling crew, like the quad and the double and if they have a really good success this summer, that really sets them up to take a run at the senior team,” said Ms. Love.
A benefit of training at the Rowing Canada national training facility in Victoria, BC, is that Grace sees what it takes to succeed at the highest level. With the U23 World Rowing Championships set to take place July 7-11, Grace is motivated to succeed.
“We want to compete, we want to win, we want to be on the podium,” said Grace. “We put in a lot of good training and we’re excited to see where our level of preparation is going to be at for this meet, but we want to do our best.”