Canada, the reigning Olympic champion in the women’s coxed eight, won the silver medal in the discipline at the Paris Games on Saturday.
The Canadians finished the race with a time of 5:58.84 at the Stade nautique de Vaires-sur-Marne.
Romania took the gold medal with a time of 5:54.39.
Canada found itself in a tight battle with Great Britain for second place with 500 metres to go, but managed to hold off its rivals to take silver.
The Canadians are in Paris as the reigning gold medallists in the event, having won the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
The team recalled four members from the Tokyo Games: coxswain Kristen Kit of St. Catharines, Ont., Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski of Calgary, Sydney Payne of Toronto and Avalon Wasteneys of Campbell River, B.C.
Five others — Abby Dent of Kenora, Ont., Caileigh Filmer of Victoria, Maya Meschkuleit of Mississauga, Ont., Jessica Sevick of Strathmore, Alta., and Kristina Walker of Wolfe Island, Ont. — joined the returning members of this year’s team.
The team qualified for today’s final after finishing second in Thursday’s repechage.