He was selected for the team after completing numerous tests on rowing machines in the gym and then finishing with a top speed on the water during seat racing earlier this month.
“The fastest two people make the boat,” he said. “It’s exciting.
“This is all steps towards the Olympics.
“The U-23 team is aimed at giving people under 23 a taste of what Olympic-level competition would be. I’ll come back [to Victoria] in the fall and continue my rowing at UVic and then if all things go well, I’ll go next year and I’ll stay with the training centre in London, Ont. and train for the Olympics in 2016.”
Walker is currently training in Welland, Ont., where he will stay until June 21 when he and his doubles-mate will go to London, Ont. for a time trial. If the pair are within 94 per cent of the world record, they’ll be sent to Linz, Austria to compete in the World Rowing Under-23 Championships, July 24-28.
If they make it, Austria will be Walker’s first international rowing experience.
“Obviously I’m nervous, but I’m also incredibly excited,” he said on the phone from Ontario. “I’ve spent the last six years on the Internet looking at these big races and athletes with national uniforms on. They’re wearing red and white, with the flag on the blade and that’s going to be me.”
In order to compete in the lightweight category, Walker needs to weigh less than 155 lbs. Currently he’s closer to 165 lbs, so he’ll have to shed some weight before July if he’s going to row at the worlds.
“That makes me nervous,” he said. “Getting all the way to Austria and not making weight would really suck.
“Luckily it’s only 10 lbs.”
Walker has had stellar results while rowing with the Vikes men’s rowing team at UVic. Last October, he captured two gold medals at the Western Canadian University Rowing Championships in the lightweight double with his rowing partner Lee Tate Hall, and his team captured another gold in the lightweight men’s coxed four.
In November 2012, his team brought home a gold medal and a silver medal from the Canadian University Rowing Championships.
Walker moved to Victoria in 2007. It was that same year, in his Grade 10 year, that he started rowing.
“It’s turned out to be a real passion.”
