It was successful day of semi-finals for Canadian Olympic-class boats today at the 2004 BearingPoint World Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland.
"We came here prepared after an excellent training camp, and it's going to plan," said Canadian head coach Brian Richardson. "All our crews are through to the finals and we're looking forward to great racing tomorrow."
Dave Calder of Victoria, B.C. and Kyle Hamilton of Richmond, B.C., rowing in the men's pair event, took their semi-final race in 6:45.49, with Argentina and Germany also qualifying for the final, leaving New Zealand just .07 of a second away from advancing.
The seemingly unbeatable Canadian men's four also won its semi today. Tom Herschmiller of Comox, B.C., Jake Wetzel of Saskatoon, Sask., Barney Williams of Salt Spring Island, B.C., and Cam Baerg of Saskatoon will advance after posting a time of 6:02.85. Australia and Poland also advance from the same semi.
Since Germany withdrew from the men's four event today (reportedly due to illness), the much-celebrated British four, who won the other semi in a time of 6:02.57, will be Canada's main competition for the gold on Sunday.
"The race today went to plan, we got out comfortably and were able to save energy for tomorrow, which is going to be a blast the whole way down the course," said crew member Cam Baerg. New Zealand tried to stay with us, but they paid the price for coming on too strong (and do not advance after finishing fifth).
The lightweight women's double - Fiona Milne of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. and Mara Jones of Aurora, Ont. - continues to look strong, winning today's semi in 7:03.87.
Jones, who in is her second year in this event, said today's race also went to plan for her boat. "It's cool to race hard against crews you think are really fast and be in the same league," she said after today's semi win. "We gained a lot of experience from racing in the last World Cup (Munich) and are becoming more savvy with each race."
The lightweight men's four advances after finishing third in this highly competitive event. Gavin Hassett of Victoria, B.C., Jon Mandick also of Victoria, Iain Brambell of Brentwood Bay, B.C. and Jon Beare of Toronto, Ont. were second to Italy (5:57.05), followed very closely by the second-place Dutch crew in 5:57.85. Canadas time was 5:59.42, with the Danish boat finishing off the pace in 6:03.10.
This was definitely the tougher semi in this event, said coach Brian Richardson said of the lightweight mens four race. And we got through beating the World Champion Danes.
The Canadian women's eight of Sarah Pape (cox) of Toronto, Ont., Karen Clark of Delta, B.C., Romina Stefancic of Victoria, B.C., Sabrina Kolker of West Vancouver, B.C., Roslyn McLeod of Burlington, Ont., Andréanne Morin of Montreal, Que., Jacqui Cook of Burlington, Ont., Pauline Van Roessel of Bow Island, Alta. and Anna-Marie DeZwager of Victoria, B.C. fnished sixth in the women's eight exhibition race in 6:18.41. The U.S. won the race, followed by The Netherlands and Romania. The same crews race tomorrow for the medals.
The women's pair and men's eight will also row in tomorrow's finals.