~~~~~~~~~ Advertisement ~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~ Advertisement ~~~~~~~~~
Toshka Besharah-Hrebacka
Sport: Canoe Sprint
Event: Women’s Kayak Four 500 Metres
Age: 21
Hometown: Ottawa
Local Club: Rideau Canoe Club
First Olympics
Instagram: @tosshkaa
VIEW TOSHKA’S SCHEDULE HERE.
Natalie Davison
Sport: Canoe Sprint
Event: Women’s Kayak Four & Doubles 500 m
Age: 32
Hometown: Manotick
Local Club: Rideau Canoe Club
First Olympics
Instagram: @nat.davison
VIEW NATALIE’S SCHEDULE HERE.
By Adam Beauchemin
They’re over a decade apart in age, but Ottawa’s Toshka Besharah-Hrebacka and Natalie Davison have paddled their way to the same spot as they get set to make their Olympic debuts simultaneously at the Paris 2024 Games.
The Rideau Canoe Club sprint paddlers have spent piles of time together preparing for the Olympics and will race in the same Canadian boat for the women’s kayak four 500-metre competition in Paris.
“They’re both outstanding athletes who have had different paths to the Games,” highlighted Canoe-Kayak Canada chief technical officer Ian Mortimer, the team leader of Canada’s Paris paddling delegation.
Mortimer was a past Team Canada international paddler himself, and he coached at the Rideau Canoe Club before joining Canoe-Kayak Canada (which said Besharah-Hrebacka and Davison were unavailable for interviews during pre-Games training).
He’s watched both athletes rise up the ranks and is eager to see them take part in sport’s biggest show.
“They’re very excited and they’re also paddling really well, so we’re excited to see how they perform against the rest of the world,” Mortimer told the Ottawa Sports Pages from Team Canada’s training camp in France.
Davison was a strong contender to paddle for Canada at the Tokyo Olympics, having helped secure Canada’s women’s kayak four berth for those Games three summers ago, but she ultimately wasn’t selected for the Olympic crew, which went on to place 11th overall.
Slowly working her way to the top has been a theme throughout Davison’s career, which began when she followed her older siblings into the sport at age 6. She was not among Canada’s very best junior paddlers, but she eventually found a path to the senior national team once she dedicated herself to paddling full-time after completing her University of Ottawa/Algonquin College nursing degree.
Davison earned her first opportunity to compete in an ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup in 2017, and now she will make her Olympic debut in Paris at age 32.
Davison is also expected to race in the women’s kayak double 500 m event, on top of the kayak four competition with Besharah-Hrebacka and fellow Olympic rookies Riley Melanson of Halifax and Courtney Stott of Pickering.
Besharah-Hrebacka is the youngest member of the quartet. The 21-year-old won a bronze medal at the 2019 ICF Canoe Sprint Junior World Championship in the K-4 event, and again at the 2021 junior worlds in the K-1 200 m, one year before making her senior worlds debut.
Besharah-Hrebacka, who started paddling with Rideau at age 6, owns a pile of Canadian prizes as well, including the five gold medals she won at the 2019 nationals to loudly announce her arrival as a top talent to watch.
But the Ashbury College grad remembers that the first provincial medal she earned at age 13 had an enormous impact on her career.
“It was a huge deal for me at the time. From then on, I began to focus and take paddling more seriously,” Besharah-Hrebacka told the Ottawa Sports Pages in 2019.
“The sport has taught me team skills – how to work together,” she added, “and when things may not go your way, working as a team to find the best answer that includes everyone’s ideas.”
Getting in sync has been a key focus for Besharah-Hrebacka, Davison and their teammates as they’ve practiced together for lengthy periods in advance of the Paris Games.
“At this point, we’re acclimatizing to weather and time zone, and doing our final preparation,” Mortimer reported. “Really, we’re looking for the athletes to sharpen up with more resistance speed, but also just to stay relaxed, healthy and just get ready to go as a team.”
The members of Canada’s Paris women’s kayak four entry fought together for their spot in the 2024 Olympics at the 2023 World Championships, where they placed first in the B final for a 10th-place finish overall.
The same crew also competed at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games in Chile, where they brought home a silver medal. At a 2024 World Cup event in Hungary, the team missed the A final by one spot.
Paddling in Paris only adds to the excitement for the athletes who are familiar with the European territory, noted Mortimer.
“It’s exciting to be racing in Europe, where we spend a lot of our competitions in the year, so in some ways, we’re very comfortable and used to this setup,” indicated the 2009 Ottawa Sports Awards male athlete of the year.
“We’re expecting over 100 family and friends for canoe-kayak sprint alone,” he added. “There’s going to be a lot of Canadian support in the stands and that’s going to give the athletes a boost. I know they’re excited to have that support.”
COMPETITION SCHEDULE:
In the weeks leading up to the start of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the Ottawa Sports Pages will be profiling participating local athletes. From July 24-Aug. 11, we’ll be providing daily Ottawa at the Olympics coverage via our free email newsletter. Sign up below to follow along!
By clicking on the submit button, you consent to receive a newsletter from Ottawa Sports Pages. You may unsubscribe by clicking on the link at the bottom of our emails. Ottawa Sports Pages | 21 Kolo Dr., Ashton, ON, K0A 1B0