It was a busy day at the Rowing World Cup - with races running from early in the morning until past eight this evening (local time) on the Rotsee course in Lucerne, Switzerland.
Canada's National Team athletes showed that they are moving in the right direction as they test their preparation and speed here in Switzerland.
"Today's results set us up nicely for the semis and finals," said Peter Cookson, Rowing Canada Aviron's High Performance Director. "The team is working really hard and even though it's early in the three day regatta, the results are promising. I'm looking forward to some exciting races."
The women's pair of Ashley Brzozowicz of London, ON, and Krista Guloien of Port Moody, BC, commanded their heat this morning to win in 7:13.17; followed by Australia in 7:15.18 and Germany in 7:27.12, and then France, South Africa and China 2. Only the winning pair of this heat advanced directly to Sunday's final.
"Today was a great day of racing," said Guloien. "We are very grateful to have made this trip overseas to test ourselves up against the best crews in the world. We are also using this as an opportunity to come together within our crews and as a team."
Guloien and her pairs partner Brzozowicz, who won this event at a World Cup in Bled, Slovenia, earlier this year, are two of the busiest rowers on the Canadian team in Lucerne - they are in the pair and women's eight event for this World Cup.
The women's eight also won its heat in 6:07.24, three seconds ahead of the British women's eight - these top two crews from this heat advance directly to the A final on Sunday.
The women's eight is Lesley Thompson-Willie of London, ON, Cristin McCarty of Saskatoon, SK, Darcy Marquardt of Richmond, BC, Ashley Brzozowicz, Krista Guloien, Andreanne Morin of Montreal, QC, Janine Hanson of Winnipeg, MB, Sandra Kisil of Ancaster, ON and Emma Darling of Burnaby, BC.
The lightweight men's double (Doug Vandor and Cameron Sylvester), also champions at World Cup 1 in Bled, also took their heat - finishing in 6:28.40. The top crew advances directly to the semi.
"Doug and I were happy with the race," said Sylvester, who is originally from Caledon, Ont., but trains in Victoria. "Conditions were nearly perfect - a nice change from those in Henley (last week in England). We are on track for tomorrow and looking forward to the semi final."
Sylvester and Vandor have been rowing together since before the 2008 Olympics. "It was a good start to the weekend," said Vandor of Dewittville, Que. "I was a bit anxious after Bled to see what the other crews had learned about us, but it went off as planned. Our philosophy is to work hard all the time - keep pushing ourselves physically and technically ... it's a tough field."
The lightweight women's double of Tracy Cameron of Shubenacadie, NS, and Katya Herman of Sudbury, ON won today's heat in their first international race together. Canada's time was 7:13.42, well ahead of the double from Greece that crossed the line in 7:20.25 (only the winner moved directly to the semi).
"It was a good first race together," said Herman. "This is my first Lucerne World Cup, so I'm enjoying the experience and looking forward to the rest of the regatta."
The men's eight also won its heat, recording the fastest qualifying time of the day in this event. Canada's time was 5:34.37 to directly advance to the final (winner to final A). Great Britain (5:35.77) came on strong in the final few hundred metres of the race, but couldn't catch the Canadians and must row in a rep to qualify.
"We knew that China had a quick start, so we made sure we got ahead on the Chinese early," said Derek O'Farrell, who won a silver medal at the Worlds in this event in 2009. "We also knew that Great Britain would try to catch us, but we were able to stay ahead to the finish. The final will be much different - there will be more crews neck and neck at the 1000 metre mark and we have to trust in our training and push to the end."
Germany won the other heat in 5:36.01.
The men's eight is Mark Laidlaw (cox) of Mississauga, ON, Derek O'Farrell of Unionville, ON, Andrew Byrnes of Toronto, ON, Doug Csima of Oakville, ON, Rob Gibson of Kingston, ON, Conlin McCabe of Brockville, ON, Anthony Jacob of Vancouver, BC, Gabe Bergen of 100 Mile House, BC, and Steve Van Knotsenburg of Beamsville, ON.
"I am satisfied with the result," said Canadian men's coach Mike Spracklen, who guided the men's eight boat to a gold medal at the Olympics in Beijing. Only one member of the Olympic eight - Andrew Byrnes - is rowing in the same event here.
Single sculler Malcolm Howard, a member of the 2008 men's eight, won his heat this morning despite a late charge from Great Britain's top sculler Alan Campbell. In his quarter final this evening, Victoria, BC's Howard was part of a close race between some of the world's top scullers - he finished second in 7:00.65 - with Czech Ondrej Synek finishing first in 6:59.66 and Sweden's Lassi Karonen 7:02.94 (top three advance to the semis) in third.
In the heat the men's four was second to Serbia (6:00.46) in a time of 6:04.93. This afternoon this same boat was runner-up to New Zealand (6:01.82) in a time of 6:04.43 and moves to the semi. The four is Will Crothers of Kingston, Ont., David Calder of Victoria, Fraser Berkhout of St. Catharines, Ont., and Mike Wilkinson of Vancouver, BC.
In the women's single, Isolda Penney of Kingston, ON, was second in her heat today. Russian Julia Levina won in 7:35.49 and Penney crossed the line in 7:39.12 - with the top two advancing to the semi-finals.
The lightweight men's pair did not have its best race this morning, finishing fourth in their heat. However, Matt Jensen of Innerkip, Ont. and Rares Crisan of Mississauga Ont. bounced back this afternoon to win their rep in 6:41.86 and advance to semi.
In the first race of the day for Canada, Sheryl Preston of North Delta, B.C. was second in 8:03.08 - Alexandra Tsiavou of Greece won the heat in 7:58.36. Later in the quarter final, Preston was third after an Austrian and Japanese sculler in 7:53.70 and she qualified (top three) for the semis.
The women's double of Romina Stefancic of Victoria and Peggy DeVos of Kamloops, BC, were fifth in this morning's heat in 7:17.78. This afternoon, they got off to a strong start, dropped to third, and then recovered to finish second to Belarus in 7:09.34. Top three move forward to the semis tomorrow.
Earlier today the lightweight men's four (Morgan Jarvis of Kingston, ON, Mike Lewis of Victoria, BC, John Sasi of North Delta, BC, and Tim Myers of Penticton, BC) was fourth in 6:16.43; this evening the lightweight four was fifth in 6:10.52 in the quarter finals. They do not advance to the semis.
Crews raced in hot and fairly calm conditions on the scenic Rotsee course in Lucerne. The regatta continues through to the finals on Sunday.