February 2023 - Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski

Just over a month before the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, a bike accident saw Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski in hospital with a broken collarbone. She managed to recover on time to win gold with the Canadian Women’s Eight. Since then, she added another World Championships’ bronze medal to her collection. Now, Gruchalla-Wesierski is ready for a new and exciting challenge – a medal at the World Rowing Indoor Championships, at home, in Canada. She is our February 2023 Rower of the Month.

How was your 2022 rowing season?

It was a really interesting year. I decided to take a year away from the National training centre after Tokyo and actually enjoyed some time with my fiancé and my family. I came in for a couple of weeks here and there just to touch base with my teammates and some of the newer additions to the team and get to know people a little bit. But getting back to it full time towards the middle of July was great. It was a very interesting experience coming in and starting selection right away for the World Rowing Championships, but nonetheless really exciting and really fun. So it was a really interesting year, but all in all, it was moving in the right direction and I was really glad I came back when I did.

You managed to come back just in time for the 2022 World Rowing Championships in Racice, where you won a bronze medal. How was it to be back with the crew?

I knew the women in my boat had come off a good result in Lucerne and we wanted to keep the momentum going. But as we all know, World Championships is always a different game and everybody steps up and  shows up. And I was hoping to add some of my power to the boat. It’s a weird experience coming from, you know, Tokyo, from the Olympics and going into a World Championship, especially after winning. But I never felt any pressure, really. It was just kind of the beginning of a new chapter.  I was really excited about the bronze medal, but I think we’re really excited to step up our performance and keep going in a really good direction. We want a lot more for our crew.

You won a gold medal in Tokyo in the Women’s Eight, tell us more about that experience and how have things changed since then?

The whole Tokyo experience was quite interesting. I suffered an injury right before the Olympics; I broke my collarbone 40 days out of the opening ceremony. That put a lot of stress on our crew, just not knowing if I’d be able to race or not, having to re solidify my spot in the boat a couple days before going into the Olympic Village… But once we got into the Olympic Village, then it allowed us to focus on what we were capable of doing. And I think we knew that we had the opportunity to win. Six to eight months leading up to the Olympics, we all knew there was something really special in that boat and it was about having our best performance on the day of the final. We kept learning and learning throughout the regatta and I always felt we got better and better. Personally, I love going through all the steps of the regatta and learning not only about ourselves but about our opponents.

And of course, the final was just like an out-of-body experience in the sense of it just went right according to plan. From start to finish. Our warmup wasn’t great, but we always knew the rhythm we were looking for. We had practices that didn’t start off great but we could really pull together. I think that was what was so special about this crew is that we never gave up and we always found a way to make it work, and that final was amazing. It was probably one of the simplest races I’ve ever raced, and it just felt so easy to work in the rhythm. It’s hard to describe to people that it felt easy – you’re still working hard, you’re still very tired at the end. But the rhythm felt easy and the commitment from every single person in the boat just felt 110%.

Do you feel like your status has changed since that Olympic gold medal?

I feel like I’m still the same person, the same athlete. I believe I’ve always been a bit of an underdog in all my sporting endeavours. Not because I lacked what I needed to be successful, but it always seemed like there were some barriers -you know, you’re just a bit too short, or anything else. But I always loved that about myself. It kind of lets people underestimate you and you get to exceed expectations, which is a really cool place to be, and I hope that I’m still bringing that to the table. That Olympic result gives me a little bit more confidence in knowing that it doesn’t have to be perfect to win, I’ve gone through it once and we were able to achieve our goal. And so why not do it again?

How did you first get into rowing?

I started rowing when I was 23. I played so many sports growing up, but I was mainly doing alpine skiing. I was an alpine ski racer and I loved it. I always wanted to go to the Olympics. I retired when I was 17 due to injury, I was on the cusp of a really big breakthrough.  I still love skiing so much and I am  involved in that community, but I still had the power to be an athlete. I was really thinking about bobsleigh, because that seemed like a natural transition from alpine skiing, and one of my friends, whom I used to ski race with, convinced me to try rowing. I was still set on trying out for bobsleigh, but rowing kind of sucked me in within the first week and I was already seeing progress. And by the time the bobsleigh trials did  come around, I was pretty deep into rowing and thought, okay, I’m going to stick with this, and I’m so glad I did.

When you aren’t rowing, what does your life look like?

I’m in school right now, studying business. I finished my undergraduate degree before I started rowing, so right now, it’s school, friends and doing some mentorship virtually or in my community just to share my story. I want to share that it’s never too late for somebody else to pick up a sport and go really far in it. I’ve had a bit of an interesting journey, so I think if it’s possible for me, why couldn’t it be possible for somebody else?

What are your upcoming goals in rowing?

The Paris 2024 Olympics! We’re less than a year and a half away now, and I can definitely start feeling a little antsy to get really going because I know how quickly the year before the Olympics goes by.  I remember the more veteran girls on the team last Olympic cycle telling me that the Olympic year goes by in a blink and having experienced that -even during COVID- I know that to be true. And I can only imagine how quickly this next period of time is going to go by, with all the regattas that we had that we didn’t have the chance to participate in last time. So having a sense of urgency while still being mindful about our practices and our races leading up to Paris for sure, and then just slotting in some smaller goals in between. I am super excited to race at the 2023 World Rowing Indoor Championships, I have never done an event like that. And for it to be at home is so exciting, I just can’t wait to do that with a home crowd, especially because there was no crowd in Tokyo.

What are your expectations for the World Rowing Indoor Championships?

I’m not about to set a World Record! I have a decent 2K score, but it’s nowhere near the World Record. I’m not looking to win the event necessarily – if I do, amazing. But it’s more like a stepping stone for, for where we’re going this year. I’m hoping to pull a good score for myself at this point in the season, and see how I’m progressing as an individual. We have some certain numbers in mind but what a good score is for a rower is really relative. And then to do it with Sydney (Payne) on my side is really special. We push each other, but we also have a lot of respect for each other. And of course, sharing that side of the sport with people in Canada is a lot easier at this time of year than the outdoor side of it. It’s a cool way for the community to come together and participate in something that only requires an access to an erg machine.

What does it mean to race on home soil?

It’s pretty special. I’m looking forward to meeting people in our community, that we haven’t had a chance to meet. I am encouraging people if they want to come and chat with us. We’re pretty isolated in our training bubble on Vancouver Island, so to know that there’s people who have our backs and that are supporting us is pretty special. And that keeps us going. It also makes it feel like it’s so much bigger than us as athletes. It’s more about representing our country and it means a lot when people come out and cheer for us and interact with us.

Where is your favourite rowing location?

I loved racing in Lucerne in 2018, and I’m looking forward to racing there again. At home we train at Shawnigan Lake a lot- it’s seven kilometers long, just so quiet. This morning we had beautiful flat water, it was kind of foggy, we could still row and see the sprinkles of snow everywhere… And while rowing in the cold weather isn’t always fun, the view can be pretty spectacular. We love training there in the facilities. So I love Shawnigan. Victoria is a pretty cool town and Vancouver Island has some pretty spectacular scenery of the coast. It’s quite different than everywhere else in Canada, it’s pretty cool.

If you could give one piece of advice to a rower starting out what would it be, or what is the most memorable piece of advice that has been said to you?

I don’t know if it was really ever given to me, but my coach created what was just a fun atmosphere. Rowing can be really amazing at times and it also can be really, really tough at times. But if you’re having fun and you have a good support system that really gets you through the tough days, it works. Even at the most elite level, we have tough days and motivation isn’t always there.  So I would say, just work hard, have fun and enjoy it. The other thing too is that rowing as a sport is quite demanding time wise. And for me, it’s so important to have things outside of rowing, any sport in general, but outside of rowing that, you know, make me feel as a complete human and not just a rower. So when you’re starting rowing. you get really excited about it, but don’t forget to have balance in your life because it really propels you forward in the later stages.

Do you have a mentor or athlete that you admire?

I grew up looking up to Aksel Lund Svindal, a Norwegian Olympic Champion in alpine skiing. But truthfully, I look up to my teammates and the people I train with every day. There’s nobody who knew exactly what we went through. And it’s funny because when I was younger, I always, always had this dream of winning at the Olympics. But for some reason it was always me on a podium alone, probably because I was in an individual sport. But to get to do it with eight other women was so special, and not having to explain the days of hard work or everything we went through, just because we all knew, was something that I appreciated so much. It meant so much more to me to share the podium with eight other people.