Harris mines bronze at world erg championships
Early mornings are nothing new for Brock rower Stephen Harris.
But last Saturday came earlier than normal for the 20-year-old Guelph native, who got up at 3 a.m. to complete his virtual weigh-in for the World Indoor Rowing Championships hosted in Hamburg, Germany.
“I am usually up early but that was a little early for me,” he said. “I used to early morning practices but the race was a little more than I am used to. But it wasn’t too, too bad.”
Harris had his ergometer set up in his kitchen and he was cheered on by his roommates and fellow Brock rowers, Thomas Markewich, Sam Stewart, Jared Boles and Oskars Rugelis.
“They were telling me how everyone else was doing so it worked out great. I didn’t have to worry about that.”
When the 5:40 a.m. race ended, the national champion in the under-23 lightweight men’s single and open lightweight single at the 2021 national championships had added to his impressive resume. With a strong sprint in the final 500 metres, Harris ended up with a time of 6:19.6 and a bronze medal. The third-year economics major finished 3.7 seconds behind winner, Felipe Kluver from Uruguay, who placed sixth at the 2021 Olympics in the lightweight men’s double.
“Stephen is really coming into his own, with great fall racing results at the OUA (Ontario University Athletics) championships and CURA (Canadian University Rowing Association) Championships and then caping it off with winning the National Rowing Championships last November,” Brock head coach Peter Somerwil said. “He is well-placed to pursue international rowing this summer so definitely one to watch.”
Harris had big goals for the upcoming summer.
“My goal is to make the under-23 world championship team and also the Canada Summer Games team that will be held here locally,” he said. “The worlds is the bigger one but I definitely want to row in the Canada Summer Games because it would be nice to have some good racing here.”
Harris placed third in the men’s under-23 lightweight event at the Canadian ergometer championships but he won’t be competing at this weekend’s Ontario championships.
The championships return to Ridley College after an one-year absence because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event will start with the junior high school men at 9:30 a.m. and conclude with the open men and women and open lightweight men (165 pounds) and women (135 pounds) at 3:15 p.m.
