Canada won a gold and advanced four boats to tomorrow's finals at the Samsung World Rowing Cup on Saturday in Australia at the Sydney Olympic Regatta Course.
Lightweight Jaclyn Halko of Uxbridge, Ont., was the regatta's first gold medalist. Halko powered through the field to win in 7:57.89, followed by Yoo Jin Ji of Korea in 8:00.76 and Australia's Sarah Pound in 8:01.46.
"Jackie rowed a smart, tactical race and trusted her pacing ability to end up in front when it counted," said Peter Cookson, High Performance Director, who is in Australia with the team.
"I was pretty confident that my training would take me through to the finish," Halko told worldrowing.com. "We are just coming out of winter training in Canada so I am slow at the start as we haven't been doing a lot of water time." Halko, who is Polish-Canadian, had success last year competing for Poland.
The women's eight rowed in a rep and came in second in 6:08.74 to advance to the final. The U.S. won the rep in 6:05.35. The eight for this first World Cup is Lesley Thompson-Willie of London, ON, Darcy Marquardt of Richmond, BC, Ashley Brzozowicz of Peterborough, ON, Krista Guloien of Port Moody, BC, Kate Goodfellow of Ottawa, ON, Sarah Black of Ottawa, ON, Christine Roper of Victoria, BC, Carolyn Ganes of Saskatoon, Sask., and Kerry Shaffer of Welland, ON.
Up-and-coming single sculler Carling Zeeman of Cambridge, Ont., was second in her rep and also makes the finals. Last year, Zeeman won a bronze at the World Under 23 Championships.
The women's pair was third in its rep in 7:28.90, and will row in the A final. The pair is Christine Roper of Victoria, BC, and Sarah Black of Ottawa, Ont.
Women's quad (Emily Cameron of Summerside, PEI, Kerry Shaffer of Welland, ON, Carling Zeeman of Cambridge, ON., and Kate Goodfellow of Ottawa, Ont.) was second in the rep, to advance to A final in 6:39.10. Australia won the rep in 6:33.63.
The Canadian lightweight women's double (Lindsay Sferrazza of St. Catharines, ON, and Jaclyn Halko) was third in rep, and then won the B final in 7:11.52 to finish seventh overall. Sferrazza did not race in the earlier lightweight single event, as she was excluded due to a technical issue related to the weigh-in rules.
Conditions were described as "changeable cross-winds" on the course in Penrith, site of the 2000 summer Olympic regatta.