A two-seater 500 meter sprint canoe athlete (C2), resident of Carignan, Léanne Castonguay, won a gold medal with her partner at the PanAM Games qualifications in November, in Uruguay.
“It was my first international competition and in our race, we had a Olympian. With my teammate, we were in front from start to finish,” Léanne Castonguay told the newspaper, who thus qualified with her teammate Rubby Muhl, from the Rideau – Ottawa club, for the Pan American Games where they will represent Canada.
The U21 Pan American Qualifier took place on November 13-14. At this event, athletes from 17 countries competed to win quota places for the 2025 Junior Pan American Games in Asuncion, Paraguay.
Léanne is part of the Quebec team, elite level, to participate in the canoe-kayak training camp in Florida during the winter. The athlete from the OBC Canoe Club in Otterburn Park will return there in 2025, from February to April, to prepare for his new season, which promises to be busy.
Outdoor
“I wasn't involved in canoeing until my daughter got into it twelve years ago. I told her, when she was eight years old, that she should do an outdoor sport and that she had a choice. I guided her a little and she moved towards the canoe. She got the bug on day one,” explained her dad, Robin Castonguay, the oldest fan of his daughter. Léanne was so involved in her sport that even her dad, who knew nothing about it before Léanne took her first steps in her club, got involved in his turn to be today the president of the council of administration of Canot Kayak Québec.
Léanne remembers her beginnings. “I had to register the first time with my cousins, who forgot to do so. I found myself all alone, but I loved it straight away. I had the possibility of going there two or three times a week, but from the first moment, I wanted to go there five days a week, and that's what I've been doing since I was eight years old. »
In 2025
It’s a year full of challenges that awaits Léanne in 2025. “I will have the 2025 Junior Pan American Games. There will also be the Canada Games in August in Newfoundland. I also want to qualify again for the Pan American Games in 2026. My dream would be to make the worlds and in the longer term, the Olympic Games, but the level in Canada is very high. »
Léanne's favorite discipline is the 200 meters C2 and C4. She also finished in first place at the National Canoe-Kayak Championships held in Welland, Ontario, from August 20 to 24, 2024.
With this new medal in 500 meters C2, the athlete shows that she will also have to be counted on in this category.
