Former Uxbridge rower places sixth in European Rowing Championships for Poland

COURTNEY McCLURE, for The Standard

UXBRIDGE: On Canada’s Thanksgiving weekend, former Uxbridge resident, Jaclyn Stelmaszyk competed in the European Rowing Championships. Ms. Stelmaszyk competed alongside her partner Weronika Deresz, on Saturday and Sunday. They trained anywhere between two to three times a day when preparing for those two days. The two were in top form, despite the Olympics being postponed to next year. “Weronika and I have a great partnership,” she said. “We were ready to go, and we were at our peak despite all the obstacles.” According to Ms. Stelmaszyk, her and Weronika had a great first race on Saturday. They placed third in semi-finals B on the first day. Then they were sent to the semi-finals, which was the following day (Sunday). “We just squeezed into the A Final by less than a second,” Ms. Stelmaszyk explained. Poland was the only country without the Olympic qualification in A Final. As expected, before the competitions, the competitors had to take some precautions because of the pandemic. Before athletes were allowed to enter the ‘athlete area’, they had to sanitize their hands. The athletes also had to wear a mask at all times, except for when they were in the boat and on the water. They were also expected to adhere to social distancing guidelines as well. Since Ms. Stelmaszyk is living in Warsaw, Poland right now, she said they had rowing training camps they attended, to train for the upcoming competition. The training included lots of rowing, cross-training and using a rowing machine. Weronika Deresz and Jaclyn Stelmaszyk have rowed side-by-side before. Eight years ago, the two of them won the world championship in the Lightweight Women’s quad. “This also included Agnieszka Renc and Magdalena Kemnitz,” shared Ms. Stelmaszyk. In addition, the duo also qualified for the 2012 London Olympics for Lightweight Women’s Double. Ms. Stelmaszyk said, Weronika is a “decorated elite athlete” who has won many European championship and World Cup medals in the Lightweight Women’s Double. “Our final was not our best,” she added. But Ms. Stelmaszyk and Weronika were happy to finish in sixth place. “We are learning from this regatta, and looking forward to smoothing out the fine details as we prepare for the qualifiers in May.”