Tara Jeffrey
Fiona and Hannah Elliott never expected to fall in love with rowing.
“It has really changed our lives,” Fiona Elliott said of the sport the Sarnia twins took up just three years ago.
“It’s pretty crazy — we gave it a shot, and just loved it.”
The 18-year-old Northern Collegiate grads — now in their second semester at Washington State University — have been named to the RBC Training Ground Top 30 Athletes from across Canada to receive funding and support as ‘Future Olympians.’
“We were both really excited — it was great news,” Fiona Elliott said of the announcement, which placed the twins in an elite group of rising Canadian athletes.
“We will receive funding, and it’s just going to help us continue on the pathway to hopefully someday being on the national team.”
More than 4,000 athletes from across Canada tried out for the Olympic talent identification and athlete-funding program; 100 were selected for finals testing, and just 30 tagged for funding.
Back in 2019, the sisters made it to the top 100 of the RBC Training Ground athlete search after catching the eye of Canadian rowing coaches.
Athletes between the ages of 14 and 24, from a wide range of sports, perform core speed, strength, power and endurance tests in front of Olympic talent scouts.
The twins’ main pursuits had been track and basketball, but coaches flagged their skillset as good potential for team rowing and encouraged them to take up the sport.
From there, they moved to Welland, Ont. to train at the Ontario NextGen performance Centre, and last summer they finished fourth together in quadruple sculls at the 2021 World
Junior Rowing Championship before heading to Washington State on rowing scholarships.
“While some participants are looking to re-energize or boost an Olympic dream in a sport they are already pursuing, others participate with the hope of being discovered and directed toward an Olympic sport they may have never considered,” said Evan MacInnis, technical director for RBC Training Ground.
The pair was nominated again to participate in the latest round of the program, and signed up immediately.
“It’s a very rewarding sport if you put in the effort,” Fiona Elliott said. “I have become much stronger mentally and physically since starting.
“I’m rowing with a bunch of really strong athletes here and it’s really nice to be able to row with them and work out together and we just keep motivating each other.”
Having your twin sister by your side for the journey is an added bonus, Hannah Elliott added.
“It’s great. We’ve always done sports together, and from a physical standpoint, it’s great when we’re rowing together because we’re built the exact same, so it makes things easier.”
They’ll use the next few weeks to train, with their eyes on the Under-23 national rowing team, as well as a spot on Team Ontario for the Canada Summer Games.
“We’ve had to have a lot of big changes in our life,” said Hannah Elliott. “We moved to Welland last year… and now we are living in Washington, so having someone with you when you do that makes it an easy transition.”