Meghan Montgomery

Originally hailing from Manitoba, two-time Paralympian Meghan Montgomery recently announced her return to the sport of rowing in hopes of capturing a medal in Rio de Janeiro.

From Meghan’s blog: “After the London Games, I retired from rowing… But I had unfinished business in my rowing career and was missing the athlete life. So I came out of retirement and I’m happier than I have ever been. I am being challenged both physically and mentally on a daily basis, and the dynamic of the team is positive and engaged. It’s a group I wanted to be part of and work alongside to get Canada to its first podium finish in para rowing at a Paralympic Games.”

Meghan, who started her journey as a Winnipeg Rowing Club athlete, moved to Victoria, BC to train seriously in late 2005 after graduating from the University of Manitoba (with a B.A and a B.Ed in senior school mathematics). In Victoria, she began training full-time with Rowing Canada’s Para squad. A little more than two years later Meghan competed in the Mixed 4+ event at the Beijing Paralympic Games and four years later at the London Paralympic Games. After the Games in 2012, Meghan decided to retire from the sport in pursuit of a teaching career. She taught math and coached rowing at Shawnigan Lake School, just north of Victoria, BC until April of this year.

Since her emergence from retirement, Meghan has immersed herself fully in rowing once again, already having won a World Championship gold medal this past June. She now has five career podium finishes at five different World Championships, and is now pursuing her ultimate dream: standing on an Olympic podium in Rio.

2016 Rio Paralympic Games

Meghan Montgomery succeeded in achieving her ultimate goal this September at the Rio Paralympic Games. She and her LTAMix4+ crew finished third in their event, winning Canada’s first ever medal in para-rowing. The Canadian team was just inches away from taking silver. “We came back on the US in a big way. We got from the stern to just being a bow ball away from silver. It was a good race.”

Results – Meghan and her LTA4+ crew won a bronze medal at the Paralympic Games