Veteran Maroney ready for worlds
Lucas Maroney will be a seasoned international veteran when he competes for Canada in the junior men’s single at the World Rowing Senior, Under 23, and Under 19 Championships (Mega Worlds) Aug. 18-25 in St. Catharines.
The 18-year-old Welland resident combined with Owen Bartel to place 11th in the double at the junior worlds in 2022 and then tied for ninth in the single at the 2023 junior worlds.
“Any kind of experience at the international level is important because you learn so much each race and that carries through,” Rowing Canada’s 2023 Junior Athlete of the Year said. “It’s as much international experience as you can get the better and I think I am well-prepared for this one coming up. It is a little different because it is at home but I am going to try and keep that as external factors and race my race.”
The biggest boost he has gained from his international experience is mental.
“There are a lot of stresses and it is easy to get overcome with a lot of emotions when you are racing in such a significant event,” the Welland Notre Dame grad said. “Having done that already, I know what to expect for the most and to have that is a huge advantage.”
He is ecstatic to row before friends and family at the worlds in St. Catharines.
“I am very excited to prove myself to my family and friends and having them there is really important. Obviously the other big competitions I have been to they haven’t been able to watch and two years ago I trained straight through so I would be ready for junior worlds. They didn’t get much of a chance to watch me race. It is great to be able to show them what I can do and what I have been training for the past couple of years.”
Wearing a Canadian singlet is always a thrill for Maroney.
“I have my past two ones up on my wall and I have a spot for the new one. It never grows old. I am excited to test myself again on the world scale, do what I can do and have some fun.”
His cheering section will include his grandparents from Uruquay.
“It is pretty special to have both sets of grandparents here supporting me.”
He is not sharing his goals for junior worlds.
“I hold myself to very high expectations but I keep those personal. My goal is always to go out there, perform the best I can and leave everything out on the water.”
Going into the world championships, he has only raced in one regatta in 2024, winning the senior boys single at the Canadian Secondary Schools Association championships.
“For the past couple of years I have been attending the world championships and I like to make that my main priority. If that means not going to some of the smaller or less important events to continue training then that’s what happens.”
Qualification for the junior worlds began the day after the Schoolboy ended in early June. Maroney earned his spot by surpassing a Rowing Canada standard by more than two seconds and defeating all the other competitors in the single by seven seconds or more.
He was confident he had made the team but had to wait until June 28 before the official announcement was made. Maroney wasn’t anxious but it was nice to finally hear the news.
“You always want to know you can move on from that and leave that stress behind and get on with your training.”
That training has been done at the Ontario NextGen Performance Centre in Welland.
“We have great support at the NextGen centre with weight training and we have a strength coach who is partnered with CSIO (Canadian Sports Institute Ontario). I have been eating everything I can, obviously healthy food. I have been trying to put on weight over the past year. I have added five pounds of our muscle mass and that has really helped me,” he said. “On the water with my coach Chris Marshall, we have been working a lot on my technique, making sure that I am well-prepared in the boat and working through race plans and how to attack them. I have made a lot of good changes technically as well.”
When worlds are over, he will have a little break before arriving at Dartmouth for his first year of scholarship rowing on Sept. 2.
“I’ve only trained in the double and single the past couple of years and it will be a big change for me to get with a bigger crew but I am excited for it and I’m grateful to row at such a high-level school like that,” he said.
His ultimate goal in rowing is to compete at the highest international level.
“I have always dreamed of going to the Olympics and I am taking it step by step and we will see where it goes.”
Maroney had a chance to compete on the Olympic rowing course in Paris at the 2023 junior worlds.
“It was very cool and it is going to be even cooler in the next couple of days with the Olympics getting going. It will be amazing to see the best of the best row on a course that I am familiar with.”
