Race watchers at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships were treated to some face-paced action today in Brest, Belarus, with the U.S. breaking a World Best time in the women's pair.
Canada also had a decent day - with three crews showing they belong in tomorrow's A final after today's semis.
Although still new to international racing, Catherine Bouchard-Pilote of Boucherville, QC, pulled off a strong race today using the middle 1000 metres to push even with the top two boats. In the last 500, Bouchard-Pilote made another push, took the lead and finished first in 7:52.81, with South Africa's Kirsten McCann in second (7:54.93) and Atsumi Fukomoto of Japan with the third qualifying spot (7:55.30) from this semi.
"This was another step completed, and now I'm ready for tomorrow," said Bouchard-Pilote.
Bouchard-Pilote, McCann and Fukomoto will also face scullers from Belarus, Austria and New Zealand in the race for medals tomorrow.
The men's pair - Conlin McCabe of Brockville, Ont. and Anthony Jacob of Vancouver, B.C. - placed second in the semi and move to the A final. They had a solid race moving from fourth, overtaking Hungary and Serbia, to qualify. The top four boats where very tight through most of the race, but crossing the line South Africa took first in 6:35.61, Canada's time was 6:36.10 and the Serbians hung on for the final qualifying spot in 6:40.54.
The lightweight women's double - Victoria's Elizabeth Fenje and Patricia Obee - also placed second in their semi in 7:14.44 and advance to the A Final. They had a great start getting to the 250-metre mark first, but Germany moved through the Canadians in the second 250 and ended up in first over 2000m (finishing in 7:13.50). Canada held in second place for the rest of the race - holding back third-place Sweden with a tough final charge.
"We learned a lot about race strategy in our semi today, and we are very excited to take that knowledge and apply it in tomorrow's final," said Obee.
The other semi of the lightweight women's double sculls nearly broke the World Best time when Greece (7:05.68) and New Zealand (7:05.69) raced to a photo finish. Germany, Canada, Sweden, Greece, New Zealand and Great Britain will line up for the final tomorrow.
In the only final of the day for Canada, the men's coxed four was fifth overall in 6:26.63. Italy won gold in 6:14.26, Germany got the silver in 6:15.17 and Great Britain took bronze in 6:16.19.
Canada's U23 coxed four is Ronan Sabo-Walsh (cox) of Vancouver, B.C., Josh Morris of Victoria, B.C., James Clinton of Vancouver, BC, Blake Parsons of Toronto, ON, and Michael Lewis of Dorchester, ON.
Canada's lightweight men's quad just missed out on advancing to the final today after coming fourth in a semi that saw the top five boats all very close at the line (but only the top three advance to the A final). Canada made a big push in the last 250 metres but just fell short and will row in the B final tomorrow. This crew is Kevin Mitchell of Victoria, Renaud Garon-Gendron of Boucherville, QC, Thomas Watson of Victoria, B.C., Kristjan Joubert of St-Lambert, QC,
Germany won this semi in 6:01.52; Greece was second in 6:03.76 and Italy also qualified for the final (6:04.00) - then came Canada in 6:05.01, Denmark in 6:06.19, and off the pace, the U.S. with a time of 6:14.10
Canada's lightweight men's pair (Stuart Taylor and Eric Woelfl) was sixth in today's semi, and will race in a B final (for places seven to 12) tomorrow. Canada's time was 7:04.54, well off the pace of the winner of this semi (France) in 6:45.08.
"We had some excellent races today," said Chuck McDiarmid, Rowing Canada Aviron, High Performance Development Coordinator. "The venue in Belarus is exceptional with great conditions, and we're expecting to see some fast races tomorrow. If the Canadian boats can continue to build on their performances, we feel we can be in the hunt for some medals."
Canada's women's eight will also row in the final tomorrow.