Matthew Fournier, a former Carleton rower, took the next step in his athletic career by competing in the 2015 Fédération internationale du sport universitaire (FISU) games.
The games took place in Gwangju, Korea beginning on July 4 where Fournier and his lightweight partner Matthew Christie competed a day later.
The two Ottawa natives placed second in their heat with a time of 6:46:02 and moved onto the finals against the top teams on July 7.
Fournier’s coach and father Ed Fournier said the transition of rowing with a new partner for the games was not difficult.
“Really it was two guys that have grown up together and rowed. Matthew [Christie] is a year younger, but they started at the same time,” Ed explained. “They’re both really competitive, so it was a very strong combination.”
When Christie and Fournier moved on to their final race, they finished with a time of 6:30:81, which awarded them a sixth place title.
Fournier said initially, both him and his partner were disappointed they didn’t win, but then later realized the competition they were up against.
“The race itself was pretty awesome. It was probably the best race I’ve ever done in my entire life,” Fournier noted. “There are some people in this competition who are going to the world championships this year and it was probably the hardest competition I’ve ever been in . . . Obviously we hoped to win, but it was still really good racing and everything.”
Fournier began his training for the race just a month before the competition and took part in a very vigorous training program.
The program consisted of around 20 to 23 hours a week of training. Fournier said him and his partner couldn’t have prepared better for the competition. The pair’s final time was a personal record in his rowing career.
His father said the final race was a tough one, but the two representing team Canada were quite successful.
“They did very well . . . There were only six seconds separating the first and the sixth place, which is very close for six boats during a six and a half minute race,” Ed said. “They went hard the whole way. Their time and the actually winning time were very fast. We base everything off gold medal standards and they were getting 95 per cent gold medal standards, which is really high.”
He added that the course in Korea was flat with calm winds, so the race times were as accurate as they could be.
Fournier said it was great weather for a great race.
Now with Fournier graduated from Carleton, his father won’t be coaching him at varsity level, but said he will be a part of his son’s rowing career as long as they areboth in Ottawa.
“He’s looking for work right now and if he ends up finding a job here, I’ll still be coaching him,” Ed said.
He said he loves to coach but added it is not just for his love of the sport, but to also be with his son.
“I love being involved with my kid. Matthew has two brothers and I’ve always been involved with their sports too, not always at a coaching level, but supporting the teams,” Ed said. “Hopefully they’ll remember that when they get older.”
The coach of nine years says he is proud of his son’s accomplishments and believes his son could one day compete on the national stage if he continues to train with the goal being in the olympics.
Although he’s been successful this summer, Fournier said his future with rowing all depends on finding a job this fall.
“I’m definitely going to keep rowing, and if it’s at a national team level, I don’t really know yet,” Fournier said. “I’m just trying to start making a career, so I guess it’s just more of a time commitment and seeing if I’ll be able to fit in all the workouts I need. I’m definitely going to keep training, if not for anything, just for fun.”
