Canada's women's four was bright spot for the team today at the Samsung World Rowing Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland (July 12 to 14).
The crew nicely picked up a gold medal today in 6:34.58, with Australia (6:36.86) and the Netherlands also reaching the podium (6:38.78). (All times over 2000 metres).
The four is Sarah Black of Ottawa, Christine Roper of Victoria, Natalie Mastracci of Thorold, ON, and Cristy Nurse of Georgetown, ON.
"We wanted to work on our rhythm and be more efficient than we were in the race for lanes (yesterday)," said Olympic silver medalist (women's eight) Natalie Mastracci. "I'm proud of our execution."
The members of the four will also row in the women's eight race on the final day of the regatta. "I just put tomorrow's race out of my mind," said Sarah Black. "I wasn't thinking of anything after 4:40 this afternoon (race time). But now it's all about the eight tomorrow!"
Olympian Patricia Obee nicely won her semi in 7:51.29, to advance to the A final, and then finished fifth overall in the final this afternoon in 7:41.70. Brazil's Fabiana Beltrame, 2011 World Champion, won gold in this non-Olympic event in 7:34.33.
Nick Pratt of Kingston, ON, had a strong finish to come second in today's semi in 7:05.31. Portugal's Pedro Fraga won the semi in 7:04.09 and also took gold overall in this event in 6:53.09 later in the day. Pratt - who is new to this event at the international level - ended up sixth in the A final in 7:03.23.
Canada's men's quad was sixth in the semi in 5:58.08, and go to B final tomorrow. This crew is Jamie Abbass (Happy Valley - Goose Bay, NFLD), Mike Braithwaite (Duncan, BC), Kevin Kowalyk (Winnipeg, MB) and Matthew Buie (Duntroon, ON).
The heavyweight men's four was fifth in the semi today in 6:02.58, and row in a B final tomorrow. This crew is Spencer Crowley (Lantzville, BC), Steve Van Knotsenburg (Beamsville, ON), Will Dean (Kelowna, BC) and Olympic silver medalist (men's eight) Will Crothers of Kingston, ON.
The lightweight men's four finished fourth in the C final, or 16th place overall. Members of this boat are Rares Crisan (Mississauga, ON), Brendan Hodge (Delta, BC), Eric Woelfl (St. Catharines, ON), and Graham Schenck (St. Catharines).
The women's quad was fourth in the rep in 6:30.12, and move to the B final. This crew is Antje Von Seydlitz (Smithers, BC), Alyssa Weninger (Unity, SK), Rosie DeBoef (Victoria, BC), and Kate Goodfellow (Ottawa, ON).
The women's double - Emily Cameron of Summerside, PEI, and Kerry Shaffer of Welland, ON - had to finish second to qualify for the semi, but lost a very tight race and came third in 6:56.56. New Zealand (6:54.57) and the U.S. (6:56.18) overtook the Canadians to advance.
The men's double finished fifth in 6:41.17 in the rep, and go to the B final. The double is Mike Harowicz (Oakville, ON) and Josh Morris (Victoria, BC).
"We have a lot of athletes who are experiencing this level of competition for the first time, and others who have been here before but are now competing in boats and combinations that are new to them," explains Peter Cookson, Rowing Canada Aviron High Performance Director. "In a post-Olympic year, patience is required as athletes discover things about themselves, and their performances, that will help them as they mature into world-class athletes."
Women's eight was third today in a preliminary race, and will be Canada's medal hope for tomorrow. The lineup for this race is Germany, Canada, United States, Romania, Great Britain, and New Zealand.