It is Canada’s first medal in rowing in the Japanese capital and tenth overall. So far, mathematicians have won all of them.
The 2018 World Champions, Fillmer and Janssens finished behind the New Zealanders and athletes in the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC).
The Canadian duo got off to a great start and quickly got nearly one boat ahead of the New Zealand representatives.
Filmer and Janssens were still ahead after 1,000 metres, but the gap between them and their pursuer had been cut in half.
In the second part of the race, the New Zealand rowers managed to take the lead. Meanwhile, athletes from the Russian Olympic Committee worked hard to raise the rating. Fourth from the start, they caught up with the Canadians, who were showing signs of fatigue.
The Canadians maintained their place on the podium. They clocked a time of 6.52 1/10, 1.91 seconds off the lead, and 65 hundredths of a second for the silver medalists.
Kylie Filmer and Hilary Janssen easily qualified for the semi-finals at the start of the competition. They dominated their race from start to finish to score the best time in the Elimination Round.
Then the two Canadians secured their tickets to Final A in an exciting race. They finished third in the semi-finals behind the Greek and British rowers.
The British-Colombian duo qualified their boat for the Olympics at the 2019 World Championships, taking the bronze medal there.
Filmer participated in the Olympic Games in Rio as a member of the women’s eighth team, which then placed fifth. Hilary Janssens competed in her first Olympic Games in Tokyo and was a reservist in 2016.
Kai Langerfeld and Conlin McCabe on the podium
A little earlier, on the men’s side, Kai Langerfield and Conlin McCabe came close to making a surprise first and second place. In a heated battle with the Danes for bronze, they had to settle for fourth.
After setting the sixth fastest time in the semi-finals, the two Canadians upset their opponents in the Grand Final, in which six nations participated.
Favoring the race, Croatian brothers Martin and Valent Senkovic took the gold medal in 6:15.29. Romanian Marius Kuzmiuk and Cyprian Todosa (6:16.58) followed in silver, while the Danes (6:19.88) outperformed the Canadians (6:20.43).
Langerfeld and McCabe fought their first tough race in Tokyo in the preliminary round. They were able to recover in the semi-finals with third place in their wave.