Emard, Grenke medal as athletics, gymnastics and rowing shine on Day 9
Canada added two more medals to its tally on Friday at the 2025 FISU Games, with standout performances across gymnastics, athletics and rowing. This brought Canada’s medal total to eight (one gold, one silver, six bronze) at the Games.
William Emard captured bronze in the men’s all-around artistic gymnastics final, while Rachel Grenke earned Canada’s first athletics medal with a bronze in women’s pole vault. Rowers also impressed in their opening races, with multiple boats advancing to semifinals and finals.
Artistic Gymnastics
Canada added to its medal count in artistic gymnastics on Friday night as William Emard (Laval, Que. / UQAM) claimed bronze in the men’s all-around final at the 2025 FISU Games in Essen, Germany. Emard posted a score of 81.732 across six apparatus, finishing behind Japan’s Daiki Hashimoto (84.265) and Shohei Kawakami (83.398). It marks Emard’s second medal of the Games, following a silver in the men’s team event earlier this week.
Teammate Ioannis Chronopoulos (Milton, Ont. / Nebraska) also reached the all-around final, finishing 11th with a total of 77.899, highlighted by a 13.500 on vault and 13.333 on rings.
On the women’s side, Evandra Zlobec (Montréal, Que. / Collégial International Sainte-Anne) placed eighth in the all-around final with a total score of 50.399, highlighted by a 13.100 on floor — the second-best score of the event. Maddison Hajjar (Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Que. / John Abbott College) placed 16th with a score of 47.365.
Emard returns to action Saturday in the men’s rings final, while Zlobec and Virginie Therrien (Montréal, Que. / CÉGEP André-Laurendeau) compete in floor and vault finals.
Athletics
Rachel Grenke of Edmonton delivered Canada’s first medal in athletics at the 2025 FISU Games on Friday night, earning bronze in the women’s pole vault. The University of Alberta standout cleared 4.35 metres — a new personal best — to secure third place, surpassing her previous mark of 4.28m and edging out athletes from the Netherlands and the U.S.
Canada also saw two athletes advance to finals. Daxx Turner (Neepawa, Man. / Manitoba) finished fourth in triple jump Group A qualification with a top leap of 15.91m, while Alec Purnell (Dundas, Ont. / McMaster) advanced to the men’s 800m semi-final with a time of 1:49.22 — a season’s best and third in his heat.
In other action, Lauchlan Irish (Victoria, B.C. / Lethbridge) posted a personal best of 15.69m in triple jump but missed the final by one spot. Decathletes Jake Neufeld (Saskatoon, Sask. / Saskatchewan) and Emanuel Desilets (Laval, Que. / Western) each recorded multiple personal and season’s bests in the first five events to sit in strong position ahead of Saturday’s conclusion.
Additional Friday performances included Georgia Bernhard (Guelph, Ont. / UNB) and Marisha Thompson (Victoria, B.C. / Victoria) in the 3000m steeplechase, Lara Denbow (Neepawa, Man. / Manitoba) and Celia Markovinovic (Puslinch, Ont. / Waterloo) in high jump, Chloe Coutts (Toronto, Ont. / Western) in the 1500m, and Dawson Mann (Sanford, Man. / Manitoba) in the 800m.
Eighteen Canadians are set to compete on Saturday as athletics action continues in Bochum.
Rowing
Canada opened its rowing campaign with several strong performances on Day 1 of competition at the 2025 FISU World University Games in Germany.
Bob Bryden (Calgary, Alta. / Durham) and Connor Attridge (Coquitlam, B.C. / Cambridge) led the way with a first-place finish in their men’s pair heat, clocking 6:50.90 to book a spot in Saturday’s semifinal. The men’s double sculls crew of Calvin Pally (Saskatoon, Sask. / Saskatchewan) and Keithan Woodhouse (Fonthill, Ont. / Brock) also advanced to the semifinal with a second-place time of 6:48.28.
In the women’s double sculls, Pepper Howe (Montreal, Que. / Victoria) and Catherine Chénier-Gagnon (Gatineau, Que. / McGill) secured their place in the semifinals with a time of 7:50.88.
Canada’s women’s four of Ceilidh Aho (Newmarket, Ont. / Guelph), Olivia Calbeck (Brantford, Ont. / Western), Madelyn Vandermeer (Rockwood, Ont. / UBC), and Ceilidh MacDonald (Barrie, Ont. / Queen’s) also advanced to Sunday’s final after posting a time of 7:16.19.
In single sculls action, Emily Munroe (Halifax, N.S. / Southern California) and Charles-Étienne Tabet (Boucherville, Ont. / Brock) each placed fifth in their quarterfinals and did not advance, after finishing second and third, respectively, in their heats.