By Trevor Greenway and Hannah Scott-Talib
Chelsea’s new Olympic athlete Sophia Jensen ranks among world champion canoeists after her sixth place finish in the C1 200 metre sprint canoe finals at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
It’s been a long-time coming for the Chelsea athlete – training three to four times a day for the past few years, always with the goal of making it to Paris in mind, according to her father, Olaf Jensen.
“Here we are after the culmination of three hard years of work leading up to the Olympics,” said Olaf. “[Our family] made the decision to go to the Olympics if she qualified.”
Sophia did more than qualify: speeding through her first heat with a first-place finish on Aug. 8, immediately advancing to the semi-finals on Aug. 10, and then securing a top four finish there to make it to the event’s finals later that day. Despite coming short of a podium spot in the final, Sophia set another personal record for herself with what Olaf said she stated was one of her best-ever performances.
Among the over 20,000 who came to Paris to watch the sprint canoe races, Sophia’s support crew showed up – her father; mother, Allison Amero; brother, Ivan; good friend and C2 sprint canoe partner, Julia Lilley-Osende; and boyfriend, Jon.
“For us, it was just amazing,” said Olaf. “There you are, at the Olympics, in front of a crowd of 24,000 people, we were feeling all the energy from the crowd and the emotion.”
About 40 people – mostly Cascades Club members – had gathered back at home in Chelsea at the club for Sophia’s final race just before 8 a.m. on Aug. 10.
Many of them proudly donned their red Cascades shirts, poured coffee, ate snacks and chatted about Sophia’s growth at the club. And when it was time for the race, there was near silence for a split second as the boats readied at the start line.
And then it was all screams and hollers, as most in the room jumped off their seats to cheer their local paddler on. It was an intense 45 seconds. And, although it was clear about 15 seconds in that Sophia likely wouldn’t medal, there was still a major sense of pride surging through the room.
“She’s just a beautiful athlete,” said former Cascades Club president Monica Dashwood, who said she has watched Sophia paddle on the Gatineau River since she was seven years old.
She said from a very young age Sophia “understood” the water, how it moves and how it reacts with a boat, and that’s why she excelled so quickly. That, and because she was basically, “born in a boat” because her parents were such outdoorsy folk. Dashwood said watching Sophia realize her ultimate dream on the world’s biggest stage was “visceral.”
“It’s tears, it’s goosebumps,” said Dashwood. “To see her carve out this incredible, elite, high-performance niche that she just kind of went parallel in her life. It’s just amazing to see what sport has done for her, and it’s just reflected back to all of our athletes at the club.”
Following the race, Sophia was able to spend a quick few seconds on FaceTime and said “Hi” to her screaming fans at the club.
“Thanks for being there, you guys, it means a lot,” said Sophia, minutes after the race. She then got the Cascades Club crew to pose in front of the camera for a photo, and said, “Thank you guys, you’re the best!”
Back in Paris, Olaf said that the family spent a quick night celebrating with Sophia after her performance in the finals, before she was whisked off the next day to take part in the closing ceremony. He was proud to point out that, at the ceremony, she was visible at the front of the Canadian team as they entered, cheering and hyping up the crowd.
“What a great host city for the Olympics,” he added. “It was just so cool, very open and integrated into the city life – it was really fun [to be there].”The Low Down couldn’t coordinate a full interview with Sophia, as she is already on her way to the Swiss Alps for what her father is calling a “post-Olympics hike.” Congrats Sophia!