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Rowers Fiona and Hannah Elliott are about to have some extra wind at their backs.
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The 18-year-old twin sisters from Sarnia are among the 30 amateur athletes from across Canada to receive funding this year through the RBC Training Ground program.
The program identifies potential Olympians. Each recipient gets $ 7,500 for such expenses as equipment, training, coaching, travel and nutrition.
“We’ll be able to use it to continue pursuing rowing and not having to worry too much about the costs,” Fiona said.
She received the good news on her way to a class at Washington State University, where the Northern Collegiate graduates are in their first year.
“I was in a great mood for the rest of the day,” Fiona said. “We weren’t really expecting it, so it was very exciting.”
They first took part in the Training Ground talent search in 2019. Their speed, strength, power and endurance were tested.
Although they weren’t rowers, their results indicated a possible future in the sport. Last year, they moved to Welland to train at the Ontario NextGen Performance Center.
They made their Team Canada debut in August at the world junior rowing championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. They were on the women’s quadruple sculls team that placed fourth in the B final and 10th overall.
“It was incredible,” Hannah said. “Due to COVID, we haven’t had very much racing experience, so it was all very new to us, but it was an amazing thing to experience.”
Added Fiona: “Our coaches and our teammates were all really incredible, too. A lot of them have rowed for longer than Hannah and I, so they were very helpful in guiding us through the process. ”
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The sisters, who were on Northern’s basketball, volleyball, and track and field teams, will mark their third anniversary as rowers in March.
“It’s pretty crazy. It’s all happened very quickly, ”Fiona said. “I think we’re both very happy with how far we’ve come and we’re really excited to see what happens with the rest of this year.”
They’re scheduled to attend Rowing Canada’s NextGen Team camp in February in Duncan, BC Their school schedule this spring will include some regattas and the Pac-12 conference championship.
“It’ll be pretty busy with traveling, but we’re both looking forward to it,” Fiona said. “It’ll be our first time traveling so much for rowing.”
They’ll return to Canadian waters this summer.
“We’re not entirely sure where we will end up,” Hannah said. “The goal is to be practicing at a high-performance center. It’ll depend on what teams we’re competing for because that could either end up being in Welland or it could possibly be in British Columbia. ”
The sisters, who’ll turn 19 in April, want to make Team Ontario for the 2022 Canada Summer Games. They’ll also try to make the Canadian under-23 team.
“We’re both pretty young for the U23 team just because it’ll be our first year, so we’re just taking it as it comes,” Fiona said. “It’ll be a great experience either way.”
The Elliotts aren’t looking ahead to the Olympics yet, but Team Canada at the Tokyo Games had eight RBC Training Ground alumni. Four won medals: cyclists Kelsey Mitchell and Lauriane Genest, rower Avalon Wasteneys, and track and field sprinter Jerome Blake.
“Obviously it’d be a dream to someday compete at the Olympics at that level,” Fiona said, “but right now we’re kind of focusing on a little more as it comes – just kind of short term.”