By Dan Plouffe
Brianna Hennessy and Zoe Wojtyk both won silver medals to lead the national capital’s seven-representative paddling team at the 2025 ICF Canoe Sprint & Paracanoe World Championships, held from Aug. 20-24 in Milan, Italy.
Wojtyk, a 20-year-old from the Rideau Canoe Club, earned her runner-up performance alongside Olympic champion Katie Vincent in the C-2 women’s 500 metres, placing second to a Ukrainian pair they’d beaten earlier in their qualifying heat.
“It is super cool to train beside her and be in a boat with her,” Wojtyk said via Canoe Kayak Canada. “I always had the confidence with her back there, knowing that she’s giving us lots of power in the boat. It’s just a good feeling going into a race having someone I can trust in the back.”
Hennessy, a Paris 2024 Paralympic silver medallist, endured exceptionally challenging conditions in her VL2 women’s 200 m final, with the heavy rain, winds and waves offering only a mild upgrade on the hailstones that postponed the heats in her event.
“I spent my race trying to stay in the lane rather than sprinting, so very bad luck,” Hennessy indicated via CKC. “I’m still very happy to medal for Canada, but you know, I guess today is not my day. The stars did not align. But there’s always a next year, and I’ll be coming.”
The 40-year-old Ottawa River Canoe Club athlete finished second behind a new challenger on the international stage, Anastasia Miasnikova, who is from Russia and competed as a neutral athlete.
Miasnikova paddles on the opposite side of the canoe as Hennessy and didn’t show the same difficulty in managing the winds en route to a 1.5-second victory in 1:02.62.
Toshka Besharah, Sophia Jensen and Evie McDonald also reached A finals at the worlds.
Besharah, a 2024 Olympian, placed eighth in the K-1 women’s 200 m, only several weeks after securing a world U23 title. She also placed 21st overall in the K-4 women’s 500 m alongside Rideau teammate Callie Loch.
Paddlers from the capital region occupied three of the four seats in Canada’s C-4 women’s 500 m boat. Wojtyk, Jensen of the Cascades Canoe Club and McDonald of the Carleton Place Canoe Club placed fifth in their A final.
Jensen also placed seventh in the C-2 women’s 200 m, while Rideau’s Gabriel Ferron-Bouius ranked 17th overall in the KL3 men’s 200 m.
Eliezer Adjibi anchors Canada 4×100 m relay team to NACAC gold
Eliezer Adjibi of CANI Athletics won a gold medal with the Canadian men’s 4×100-metre relay team at the Aug. 15-17 North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association Track and Field Championships in the Bahamas.
Adjibi, who was an alternate for Canada’s 2024 Olympic-champion relay team, assumed the anchor position usually occupied by Andre De Grasse, who missed competing at the 2025 Canadian Track and Field Championships in Ottawa due to a hamstring issue.
Canada won the race comfortably in 38.05 seconds to top Jamaica by .48.
Adjibi also ran 10.16 to finish fourth in the men’s 100 m event, which was won by relay teammate Jerome Blake.
Ottawa’s Jacqueline Madogo and Lauren Gale both placed sixth in their respective women’s 200 m and 400 m finals, running 23.30 and 52.43.
Read More: Ottawa Olympians Madogo, Adjibi win matching second bronze medals to conclude home track nationals
Gaby Dabrowski scores WTA 1000 Cincinnati Open crown
Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski will head into the U.S. Open with a trophy in tow, having won the Cincinnati Open women’s doubles WTA 1000 title alongside partner Erin Routliffe.
The pair’s fifth win of the Aug. 5-18 event was a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Hanyu Guo and Alexandra Panova in the final.
“I feel very fortunate to have been able to compete this week,” Dabrowski said during the trophy presentation. “Erin, thanks for sticking by my side. I know it’s not been an easy ride, but this trophy means a lot to share it with you. And thank you for being so supportive as a partner and as a friend.”
The title came just a few days before the one-year mark since Dabrowski found out she was in remission from breast cancer, and a few weeks after the Paris 2024 Olympic medallist received the Key to the City back in her hometown.
Read More: HIGH ACHIEVERS: Tennis star Gabriela Dabrowski receives Key to the City of Ottawa
Britannia Yacht Club sailors sweep combined podium at youth nationals
The Britannia Yacht Club owned the top two steps of the podium in both the men’s and women’s competitions of the ILCA 6 Gold Fleet category at the Sail Canada Youth Championship in Kingston.
Brodie Sorensen won four of 11 races en route to the top spot in the men’s division standings, with Keanu McCarthy in second place.
Representing BYC as well as Nepean Sailing Club, Evania Lovshin was the top female and third overall in the mixed-gender standings, with overall victories in three races. Eva Doucette was second out of female athletes.
Sorensen and Lovshin entered the event fresh off silver and bronze medal performances respectively at the 2025 Canada Summer Games in St. John’s, NL.
Read More: Ottawa at the Canada Games Day 8: BYC sailors land on podium after tumultuous week
Ottawa athletes appear on world stage in volleyball, rugby, water polo, swimming
Maverick Volleyball Club product Vicky Savard and the Canadian women’s volleyball team are off to a 2-0 start at the Aug. 22-Sept. 7 Women’s Volleyball World Championship in Thailand. Canada opened with a 25-23, 25-18, 23-25, 25-18 victory over Bulgaria and then prevailed 22-25, 28-26, 24-26, 25-15, 15-10 over Spain. In her World Championship debut, Savard helped Canada to its best-ever finish at the worlds, placing 10th in 2022.
University of Ottawa Gee-Gees product Maya Montiel came on in the 60th minute as Canada hammered Fiji 65-7 in its opening match at the Aug. 22-Sept. 27 Women’s Rugby World Cup in England. Fellow former Gee-Gee Claire Gallagher is also part of Canada’s 32-player squad.
Capital Wave’s Brooklyn Plomp helped Canada to a 13th-place finish at the Aug. 10-15 World U20 Women’s Water Polo Championships in Brazil. Canada fell out of championship contention with 12-8 and 9-4 losses against China and Australia in the group stage but then handily beat Mexico, Argentina and South Africa (twice) to earn the 13th-place classification.
Swim Ottawa’s Molly Barber finished in the top half of her event at the Aug. 19-24 World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships in Romania. Swimming in the outside lane of heat 10, the Boston University-bound swimmer placed last in her race but had the 45th-best time in the giant 104-athlete women’s 50-metre butterfly field.
Look for more coverage on local medal winners from the Junior Pan American Games, provincial soccer and national orienteering and BMX cycling on OttawaSportsPages.ca in the coming days.