Story by Kellie Finch
Cover by Olivia Goodson
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Growing up in New Liskeard, Ontario, Kristen Siermachesky’s childhood bedroom was similar to those of other kids her age.
Colorful artwork, athletic posters and family pictures scattered her room. A staple comfy blanket laid on her bed.
One thing, however, set her apart: A post-it note of the Olympic rings hanging on her wall.
“No matter what sport, for me, it’s always been a goal of the Olympics,” Siermachesky said.
A large influence on Siermachesky’s Olympic drive was her parents. Her dad, Cory Siermachesky, was a high jumper for the 1989-95 Canadian National Track Team, while her mom, Sheila, ran for the University of Western Ontario Track Team from 1984-1988.
“Growing up, I did want to be a coach at one point,” Siermachesky said. “I also wanted to be a teacher—my mom was a principal—so that kind of carried through, but then as soon as I got really into sports I wanted to be a professional athlete.”
Siermachesky began playing hockey at a young age and quickly found her place in her local leagues. However, there were no girl’s teams for her to play on, so she took her passion to the big city to develop her talent further.
“In 10th grade, I moved to Toronto by myself,” Siermachesky said. “I moved in with a different family that I had never met.”
While playing in Toronto, Siermachesky’s strength and defensive skillset caught the eye of Syracuse University Women’s Ice Hockey Coach Paul Flanagan. What he didn’t realize he would be getting along with Siermachesky’s skills was her character and positive attitude, which carried over to the rest of the team.
“She comes back through here in Syracuse on her way home,” Flanagan said. “Everyone lights up when they see her and that kind of says it all.”
Siermachesky was recruited at the end of 10th grade and spent four years under Flanagan’s coaching at Syracuse, where she pursued an undergraduate degree in sport management. Her senior year, Siermachesky was named captain of the hockey team.
“She’s a great student. Excellent athlete, but just how she carries herself consistently,” Flanagan said. “She’s just got a really, really strong character that I really admire.”
After graduating from Syracuse, Siermachesky considered traveling to Budapest to play hockey professionally. However, the pay wasn’t what she wanted, and travel was limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That led Siermachesky to further her education in North Carolina.
“I looked into a master’s degree [at UNC-Chapel Hill], which was sport administration, and one of the top programs in the country,” Siermachesky said. “I said, I’m going to – shot in the dark – give it a try, see if I can get in.”
With another year of athletic eligibility left, 21-year-old Siermachesky knew she wanted to stay active somehow. The only problem was, UNC-CH doesn’t have a women’s hockey program.
Siermachesky’s solution: Rowing.
“My hockey coach made a joke to me at the time at Syracuse and was like, ‘Why don’t you try rowing if you’re done with hockey?’” Siermachesky said. “And little did he know, I would call Coach Erin, who’s now my boss…and she said, ‘Let’s give it a try.’”
Erin Neppel, the UNC-CH women’s rowing head coach, knew immediately that Siermachesky was made for rowing—and the UNC-CH team.
“She right off the bat just had the stuff, like the intangibles,” Neppel said. “She’s an incredibly gifted, natural, blessed athlete, but her mindset is fantastic. She was the hardest working, most unflappable athlete that I had ever coached at that point.”
Siermachesky woke up early and stayed up late, constantly in the weight room or on the lake to get stronger. Instantly, her times skyrocketed to the top of the team’s.
Years of playing hockey taught Siermachesky how to work in a team, which was immediately applicable to rowing. Her endurance and strength were added factors to her quick success in the sport.
“In a boat, everyone has to move exactly the same together in order to get it to move at its best speed,” Siermachesky said. “So I took a lot of those skills from hockey, the team dynamics and tried to apply it to rowing.”
The type of athleticism was slightly different, however, and that posed a challenge. Siermachesky’s mind and body had to shift slightly to incorporate the new techniques into her muscle memory.
“The cardio is very different. Rowing, we do a lot of training for long periods of time, whereas hockey was like quick sprints here and there,” Siermachesky said. “So that took a lot of adapting for my body.”
The first time Siermachesky did a 2000-meter ergometer assessment, she scored a time of six minutes, 49 seconds, when the standard for beginners her age would have been over eight minutes. Neppel knew then that Siermachesky was destined for a bigger stage.
“At that time, that was when I asked her if she possibly wanted to see how far she could take it and if she would let me call Canada for her,” Neppel said.
A representative from the Canadian National Rowing Team attended one of UNC-CH’s practices and spoke to Siermachesky about her interest in moving to British Columbia and trying out for the team. The team was ecstatic for Siermachesky but wasn’t shocked in the slightest.
“I remember the Canadian National Team came to watch our practice one day and I was like, ‘Wow, they’re going to take her,’” Senior Captain Claudia Quintaba said. “Then, when she told us all, it was just really awesome. And I was not surprised, but it was just so incredible to say, I rowed with this girl who’s going to the Olympics.”
After realizing the Olympics was a possibility for her, Siermachesky had to make a choice: train with the Canadian National Team or finish her master’s program at UNC-CH. She talked to Neppel, her friends and family to come up with a plan, but each of them said the same thing.
Go for the Olympics.
“After speaking with my parents who’ve been in similar situations, they were fully supportive and said, you know, it’s going to happen once or twice in your life,” Siermachesky said. “You might as well go for it.”
Siermachesky trained with the Canadian National Team for three years before qualifying for the Canadian Olympic Rowing Team as a spare, at age 24. This meant she would travel to Paris, train with the eight-rowing crew and wait—for someone to drop out, so she could row.
“Of course, I’m on the team that got a silver medal,” Siermachesky said. “I don’t personally get a silver medal as a spare so that was a little bit difficult, but throughout the whole experience I got the entire Olympic experience that the girls in the boat got and I never once felt excluded from that.”
As a spare, Siermachesky had to be constantly ready to step in for someone. It was conflicting, she said, being supportive of her team but still wanting the opportunity to compete. Siermachesky also grappled with whether she could call herself a true Olympian and get the classic Olympic rings tattoo, despite not rowing in the silver medal-winning race.
“Learning a new sport and having these ups and downs of, you didn’t make the boat, you’re going to be the spare, you might be in the boat. These are mental things that are very back and forth,” Siermachesky said. “But if you surround yourself with people that are supportive of you and you have to continue to believe in yourself, you can literally achieve anything.”
When the Olympics concluded and Siermachesky began researching her next steps, there happened to be an open assistant rowing coach position alongside Siermachesky’s former coach, Neppel.
So, Siermachesky applied. Months later, she was back in Chapel Hill, with the job.
“Training for the Olympics and being on the Canadian national team, (Siermachesky) just immediately sees all these things that, you know, we can incorporate into our training and what we’re doing,” Neppel said. “It was like no thought required on that one.”
Returning to UNC-CH to coach several of her former teammates was a dynamic Siermachesky thought would be interesting to navigate. However, it feels completely natural to her and the team.
“We found out that Kristen was coming back and I honestly thought it was going to be more weird than it is,” Quintaba said. “She’s just such a natural role model and leader that I think she fits into the coaching position so well.”
Siermachesky plans to coach and finish her master’s at UNC-CH for now, but her athletic journey is far from over. Her eyes are on the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles—where she hopes to bring home a medal of her own.
“Don’t get me wrong. I do want it to be different next time,” Siermachesky said. “I want to be in the boat when we win a medal. But like I said, I still got that full Olympic experience, and I wouldn’t change it for anything.”
