WASTENEYS Avalon

Canada
Rowing
31 Aug 1997
23
Female
1.85/6'0''
CAMPBELL RIVER, BC
 
Canada
VICTORIA, BC
 
Canada

Events and Medals

Discipline Event Rank Medal
ROW Rowing Women's Eight
CAN
Canada
 1 Gold Medal

Schedule

Change
Start Time Location Event Status
Sea Forest Waterway
Women's Eight Heat 1
#61
Finished
Sea Forest Waterway
Women's Eight Repechage 1
#103
Finished
Sea Forest Waterway
Women's Eight Final A
#129
Finished

Biographical Information

Highlights

:
World Championships
YearLocation8+
2019Linz, AUT4

World Cup
RankEventYearLocationResult
2Eight2018Lucerne, SUI6:08.11
3Eight2019Rotterdam, NED6:46.77
6Eight2019Poznan, POL6:38.98

World Championships Under 23
YearLocation8+
2018Poznan, POL1


Legend
DNF - Did Not Finish, DNS - Did Not Start, EXC - Excluded
:
Skiing, hiking. (rowingcanada.org, 04 Mar 2019)
:
Athlete, Student
:
University of Victoria, Canada
:
English
:
University of Victoria Rowing Club [Canada]
:
Michelle Darvill [national]; Phil Marshall [national], CAN; Lesley Thompson-Willie [national], CAN
:
Her mother Heather Clarke represented Canada in rowing at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, finishing seventh in the women's coxed four. (SportsDeskOnline, 01 Feb 2020; cbc.ca, 31 Aug 2016)
:
Before rowing she was a cross-country skier and won silver in the junior girls 1 division at the 2014 Cross-Country Ski Nationals in Newfoundland, Canada. (cbc.ca, 31 Aug 2016; campbellrivermirror.com, 29 May 2019; csipacific.ca, 06 Mar 2017)
:
2018 for Canada (rowingcanada.org, 04 Mar 2019)
:
2018 (rowingcanada.org, 04 Mar 2019)
:
She began rowing in 2015 as part of the University of Victoria Novice Rowing Programme. (rowingcanada.org, 04 Mar 2019)
:
Despite being a cross-country skier in her youth, she chose to follow her mother's footsteps and take up rowing when she attended the University of Victoria. "Although I loved the sport, I made the practical decision to switch to rowing because I knew that in Canada there were limited options for getting a university degree while also competing at a high level in skiing. Once I made the decision by myself I immediately got excited and I haven't looked back." (cbc.ca, 31 Aug 2016; csipacific.ca, 06 Mar 2017)
:
"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude." [Maya Angelou] (rowingcanada.org, 04 Mar 2019)
:
In March 2017 she was named the Royal Bank of Canada [RBC] Training Ground BC's Most Promising Athlete from the British Colombia region, earning funding of up to CA$10,000 for the following three years. (csipacific.ca, 06 Mar 2017)

General Interest

General
BALANCING SPORT AND STUDY
She reduced her study load at the University of Victoria in order to prepare for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. "I've definitely put school on the back burner for the year leading up to the [2020] Olympics. Previously it's been tough balancing two or three practices every day, except for Sundays, along with a full course load. The hardest part is really just getting to campus. Taking 40 minutes out of the day to go to and from campus, then in the evenings finding time to study when you're exhausted [is difficult]." (Campbell River Toyota YouTube channel, 04 Oct 2019)

SWITCHING SPORT
She competed in cross-country skiing at junior national level before switching to rowing in 2015. "A lot of young athletes, especially if they show talent early, they are thrown into a sport and it's go time. There is no time to enjoy what they are doing and fall in love of it. I took my first year [of rowing] just to not worry about results and have fun. There were lots of people telling me to join certain high performance programmes but I knew for myself I needed to appreciate the sport for what it was and not think about where I want to go. I needed to think this is an amazing sport and I wanted to love it first." (govikesgo.com, 20 Feb 2018)

Legend
:
Gold Medal
:
Gold Medal Event
:
Silver Medal Event
:
Bronze Medal Event
Content 1 (removed through CDN)
Content 2 (removed through CDN).
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