Rowing Canada Release | World Rowing U23 Championships

PLOVDIV, Bulgaria - Rising senior Mackenzie Copp of the Boston University men’s rowing team won a bronze medal with team Canada at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria over the weekend.

Copp was part of Canada’s men’s four boat along with Jakub Bucsek (Columbia University), Lucas de Gelder (McGill University) and David DeGroot (Brock University) that finished third in a thrilling grand final race on Saturday. The Canadian four fought with the US boat for third throughout the race, changing positions with the Americans three times before overtaking them and closing on the British crew over the final 500 meters. Canada finished in a time of 6:13.44, only 0.37 seconds off the silver medal which went to Great Britain, behind gold medal winning Romania.

“We are extremely proud of Mac for his Bronze medal performance,” said head men’s rowing coach Thomas Bohrer. “It was a gutsy race for Canada and we congratulate him and his teammates. Mac joins a long list of Boston University oarsman that have rowed on their national team. We look forward to having him back for his senior year.”

The London, Ontario native was a member of BU’s varsity eight boat that had a very successful spring season. The V8 went undefeated in cup racing, defeating crews from Northeastern, Wisconsin, Columbia, Syracuse, and Dartmouth. The V8 was ranked as high as sixth nationally during the season and placed seventh in the country at the IRA National Championship Regatta.

Following an intensive selection process, Copp was one of 24 Canadian rowers selected by Rowing Canada Aviron in June for a U23 National Team roster spot.

The 2015 World Rowing Under 23 Championships is a five-day competition featuring 20 rowing events. This year’s competition, coming in a pre-Olympic year, featured a large turnout of 820 of the best under-23 rowers in the world representing 51 nations.

For full results of the World Rowing U23 Championships click HERE