Conlin McCabe

Biography

Conlin McCabe made his Olympic debut as a member of the silver medal-winning eight at London 2012. A year earlier he had been part of the eight crew that won bronze at the 2011 World Rowing Championships. Prior to joining the senior national team, McCabe enjoyed success as a junior and U23 competitor, winning silver medals at the 2007 World Junior Championships in the pair and at the 2008 and 2010 World U23 Championships in the eight and pair, respectively. 

From 2013 to 2016, McCabe competed in the four. He won a bronze medal at the 2014 World Cup in Aiguebelette, France before finishing fifth at the 2014 World Championships. In 2015, he and the “True North Four” won World Cup bronze in Varese, Italy and narrowly missed the world championship podium with their fourth-place finish. In between, McCabe won two gold medals at the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto as a member of the four and the eight. At Rio 2016, McCabe and the four advanced to the A final, finishing sixth. 

In 2017, McCabe gave sculling a try before returning to sweep rowing in 2018 and competing with the eight at the world championships. For the 2019 season, he teamed with Kai Langerfeld in the pair. They won the bronze medal in their only World Cup race and went on to finish second in the B final at the world championships, qualifying the boat for Canada for Tokyo 2020. In his third Olympic appearance, McCabe finished fourth in the A final of the men’s pair with Langerfeld, missing the podium by just half a second. 

McCabe rowed at the University of Washington where he won three NCAA Championships, including two undefeated seasons as a freshman and junior. His undefeated freshman eight boat never failed to win by less than open water. He was featured in the May 2011 issue of Sports Illustrated’s “Faces In The Crowd”.

A Little More About Conlin

Getting into the Sport: Started rowing when he was 9 but began taking it seriously in 2004… Outside Interests: Earned his Bachelor of Arts in Geography at the University of Washington… Odds and Ends: Favourite motto: “Stay in the moment”… If he isn’t rowing well he will take off his socks… Favourite Olympic memory is watching the men’s eight win gold at Beijing 2008… Cousin Martha McCabe is a two-time Olympian in swimming… Canadian record holder on the indoor rowing machine…