After its first major test of the 2011 season, the Canadian team will come home with four medals - three today in Olympic class boats - from the Samsung World Rowing Cup (July 8 to 10, 2011) in Lucerne, Switzerland.
"We came here to test our team's strength leading into the qualification regatta for the 2012 Olympics (later this summer in Bled, Slovenia)," said Rowing Canada Aviron High Performance Director, Peter Cookson, "and we ended up with six crews in the Olympic class A finals; with three medals in these categories. There were three close finishes and a medal in a non-Olympic boat, so overall it was a good team performance, but as always there's work to done before the World Championships."
2010 World Champions Tracy Cameron of Shubenacadie, NS, and Lindsay Jennerich of Victoria pulled together an excellent showing today in the A final.
The Canadians commanded most of the race, finishing at the 2000-metre mark in 7:01.71 for gold; Great Britain was second in 7:03.81 and the U.S. held on for third in 7:04.81.
"It's always harder to be chased than to do the chasing, and when you come into the season as the World Champions, that's always in the back of your mind," said Jennerich, who was the Olympic alternate in 2008. "You cannot just rest on what you achieved in the past."
This World Cup was the lightweight double's first major test of the season.
"It really came together for us again at our Italian training camp before the World Cup," said Cameron, who started her rowing career in Calgary, but now trains in London, Ont. "Something happened after Amsterdam (where they competed, and lost to the British) that brought us into focus, and I think it's the best training camp that we've ever had. We committed to some changes and today we executed them. I'm happy with our progress so far this season, we just have to stay on track and our next focus is Bled (Slovenia)." The World Championships will be in Slovenia beginning in late August, and also serve as the important Olympic qualification regatta.
The women's eight also looked like they belong on the podium - picking up a silver medal and giving the World Champions from the U.S. a bit of scare.
The U.S ended up with with the gold in 6:28.35, and although Canada led most of the way down the course, the Canadians’ finish time was 6:29.41 for second-place. The Dutch were third in 6:31.73.
The women's eight is Lesley Thompson-Willie (London, ON), Ashley Brzozowicz (London, ON), Krista Guloien (Port Moody, BC), Janine Hanson (Winnipeg, MB), Darcy Marquardt (Richmond, BC), Natalie Mastracci (Thorold, ON), Andreanne Morin (Montreal, QC), Cristy Nurse (Georgetown, ON) and Rachelle Viinberg (Regina, SK). "The race was so exciting. I could feel the power from the first stroke, and everyone felt really committed and connected," said Mastracci, who is in the senior eight for the first time this year, after competing in the Under 23 category in 2010. "We learned at lot this year early in the season, and had some great training, and what we saw today was a nice culmination of all our hard work."
Olympian (2008) Ashley Brzozowicz said: "It's always good to go out there and have a goal, and to execute that goal. We went out there to win today, and a silver medal is pretty close. We will work with that and see what we can do in Bled."
Olympic medalists David Calder of Victoria and Scott Frandsen of Kelowna, B.C. won Canada's first medal of the day - a bronze in the men's pair in their first season back as a pair since Beijing in 2008, where they took silver.
"It was good to blow out a 2k!! It was a great start to the race; we always have good starts. Then the Kiwis eased out really well, and we had a good barn burner all the way to the line with the Brits,” said Calder, just after the race. New Zealand won in 6:21.76, followed by Great Britain in 6:28.16 and Canada in 6:29.47.
Frandsen said: "It was a good race. It was a bit bumpy in the middle - there was a bit of a wake or something, but we raced well. We want to win of course, but we are happy with the way we performed today." They now return to their base in Victoria, BC, to train for the Worlds.
After some strong preliminary races, the Canadian lightweight men's double of Cam Sylvester (Caledon, ON) and Doug Vandor (Dewittville, QC) finished out of the medals today - they were fourth overall in 6:31.58, behind medal winners New Zealand, Italy and Denmark.
In the men’s eight, Germany won in headwind conditions in 5:43.52, followed by the Dutch in 5:45.31 and then Great Britain (5:45.35), the U.S. (5:45.55), Canada in fourth in 5:49.23 and then Poland in 5:51.54 rounded out the field.
Canada's men's eight - with only two members from the 2008 gold medal boat - is coxswain Brian Price (Belleville, ON), Will Crothers (Kingston, ON), Rob Gibson (Kingston, ON), Doug Csima (Oakville, ON), Jeremiah Brown (Cobourg, ON), Conlin McCabe (Brockville, ON), Andrew Byrnes (Toronto, ON), Derek O'Farrell (Montreal, QC) and Gabe Bergen (100 Mile House, BC).
Victoria’s Malcolm Howard also finished fifth in the single. Czech sculler Ondrej Synek was in form today, and won in 7:16.68, followed by Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand and Lassi Karonen of Sweden. Canada’s time was 7:29.15.
“The quality of the competition is the men’s single is impressive. The result from today was good because it gives us confidence Malcolm is moving in the right direction,” said Howard's coach, Allison Dobb. "He didn’t race as well as he would have liked in the final, but there are some specific areas we can focus on going into the Worlds.”
The lightweight men's four was third in the B final in 6:15.69. This four is Morgan Jarvis (Winnipeg, MB), Mike Lewis (Victoria, BC), Tim Myers (Penticton, BC) and John Sasi (North Delta, BC). This means that the boat is ninth overall.
Mike Wilkinson of Vancouver and Fraser Berkhout of St. Catharines, ON, finished fourth in the men's double B final (6:23.79) for an overall placing of 10th.
Carolyn Ganes of Saskatoon, SK, with Larissa Lagzdins of Burlington, ON (CAN1) were second (7:19.29) in today's women's pair B final or 8th. overall.
In the same B final, Sarah Bonikowsky of Orangeville, ON, and Jane Rumball of Fredericton, NB (CAN2) were sixth, or 12th.
A major storm rolled down the Rotsee course in Lucerne the afternoon, but the racing had just completed before the thunder and lightening began.
Great Britain finished as the top country at this regatta, with 70 World Cup points, New Zealand second with 56 points and Germany third with 39 points.
Saturday's finals:
Rares Crisan (Mississauga, ON) and Matt Jensen (Innerkip, ON) took silver in the lightweight men's pair. They challenged for gold, missing the top spot on the podium by only .91 of a second. Germany won in 6:44.30, then Canada took the silver position in 6:45.21 and Italy followed in 06:48.27. Crisan and Jensen took silver in the same event last year.
Canada's men's four finished second in its C final, or 14th overall. The Czech boat was first in 5:59.59. Canada looked strong throughout the race and finished in 6:01.34, closely followed by South Africa (6:01.44). This crew is Steven Van Knotsenburg of Beamsville, ON, Will Dean of Kelowna, BC, Kevin Kowalyk of Winnipeg, MB, and Anthony Jacob of Vancouver.
Emma Darling of Vancouver and Emily Cameron of Summerside, PEI, had the fastest time (07:19.45) in their D final, finishing 19th overall.
Victoria's Patricia Obee finished eighth overall (7:52.58), after a second-place showing in the B final.
Full results are at www.worldrowing.com