The second World Cup of the season continued today in Munich, Germany, with Canada's only entry advancing to the next round of racing.
In semi-final action, Malcolm Howard of Victoria, B.C. came from behind in head-wind conditions to finish third in 7:22.31 and qualify for tomorrow's A final.
"I'm getting better with each race and I'm really happy to be in an A final position," said Howard.
Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic (7:19.30) and Great Britain's Alan Campbell (7:20.95) were first and second in the 2000-metre race on the Olympic course near Munich.
"Malcolm appears to be gaining the confidence required to be a single sculler," said Rowing Canada's High Performance Director, Peter Cookson. "He has worked well with his coach (Allison Dobb) over the past three weeks. We are looking forward to seeing him racing tomorrow."
Germany's Marcel Hacker won the other semi in 7:11.38., Norway's Olaf Tufte (7:13.77) took second and Lassi Karonen of Sweden finished third in 7:15.68 to take his place in the final.
"Watching these guys who have been racing in the single for so many years is really impressive," said Howard, a 2008 Olympic gold medalist in the men's eight. "Today's race was another step forward in my transition from the eight to the single. I've had more racing time in the past two days in the single than I did all last year in the eight."
"The final will be a challenge, but I am looking forward to it," he said today.
At the first World Cup in Slovenia last month, Howard didn't make the A final and finished seventh overall, after winning his B final. Ondrej Synek won the first World Cup of 2010 in the men's single.
Full results and reports can be found at:
http://www.worldrowing.com/