Greater Trail rowing phenom Eliza Dawson raced to gold at the 2024 FISU World University Rowing Championship in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Dawson and teammate Sally Jones won the 2000-metre women’s pair race with an impressive row for Team Canada.
The dynamic duo defeated the second place team, Austria, by more than six seconds in the July 6 final.
“It was pretty incredible,” Dawson told the Times. “That kind of thing, being ahead by six or seven seconds, is unheard of in rowing.
“The last time I was in Italy in 2022, it was five boats across the line with 1.3 seconds between all of them.”
The 24-year-old graduate of University of Calgary is now attending Washington State University in Pullman, WA., to continue her graduate studies in kinesiology.
The J. L. Crowe graduate competed for WSU in women’s eights this past year and didn’t know what boat she would be rowing in going into Canada’s summer training sessions on Vancouver Island.
Rowing pairs is different than eights, says Dawson. It requires control, balance and precision and keeping your stroke strong, fluid and consistent is key to speed.
She was soon paired up with Jones, and both trained hard leading up to the championship, getting the opportunity to race at the National Rowing facility in Duncan.
“That was fun getting to race against some faster crews, and we were pretty comparable there. So we knew we were fast, we really didn’t know how fast or what the competition level was going to be like.
“But we can only control what is happening in our boats, so we weren’t worrying about anybody else.”
Dawson almost never made it to the Rotterdam race.
The NCAA National Rowing championship was scheduled after the deadline for her tryouts for Team Canada.
As fortune would have it, Dawson’s WSU crew of eights came up short finishing fifth at the PAC 12 regatta in Sacramento, CA, and just missed advancing to the NCAA event.
But the silver lining would soon turn to gold as Dawson flew from the PAC 12 championship on May 16 back to Pullman, then drove to Trail, and all the way to Victoria to meet her Canadian teammates on May 22.
In all, Canadian rowers mounted the podium five times after expertly navigating strong tailwinds to secure top positions at the Worlds.
In addition to Dawson’s and Jones’ gold, the Men’s Fours and Lightweight Men’s Single won silver, Lightweight Men’s Doubles won bronze, and Women’s eights also earned a bronze medal.
“I feel like the gold medal was the cherry on top of the cake for this whole summer,” said Dawson. “The best part of it was training with the group we had there, all eleven of us became really close.
“Training every day together was really fun and honestly that is what I’m missing now.
“But the moment was incredible, like surreal.”
It has been an honour-filled season for the West Kootenay rower both athletically and academically.
The WSU student-athlete was named College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-American on July 16, after being one of four Washington State rowers named CSC Academic All-District.
“Eliza is a special athlete,” said WSU head coach Jane LaRiviere. “We are thrilled that her hard work, determination and leadership skills have been recognized on a national stage. Go Cougs!”
Dawson was named CRCA All-American on June 7, a CRCA Scholar-Athlete on June 6, and garnered 2024 Pac-12 All-Conference Team honours on May 24.
“It was pretty amazing having all that happen at the same time,” said Dawson. “I’d open Instagram, and go ‘Oh there’s my face again.’
“It’s like I’m on cloud nine,” she added. “It feels great, but I don’t do it because I want the recognition, I just enjoy doing it, but I am excited about it.”
Dawson will continue rowing after she finishes her final semester at WSU this year.
Her ultimate goal is to train with Team Canada at the National Training Centre.
If all goes well, the FISU world rowing pairs champion hopes to compete at the 2028 Summer Olympic Games.
“It’s definitely on my radar,” Dawson added. “There are two girls in the Olympics I rowed with when I went to Italy in 2022, so it is reachable, and I’m excited to see what can happen.”
Dawson sends a huge thank you to her parents and family at home and on the Island. Also, to her many coaches who have guided her along the way.
