Three more Canadian crews advance after a full day's racing at the World Under-23 Rowing Regatta in Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro.
The Canadian Under-23 men's eight - which won gold in 2001 and silver last year - won its heat this morning to advance directly to the A final, which will be held on Sunday. Canada's time was 5:56.92.
Members of the eight are James Dunaway of Duncan, B.C., Darryl DeLeeuw of Victoria, B.C., Malcolm Howard of Victoria, B.C., Jamie Faris of Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., Peter Van Rooijen of Brockville, Ont., Craig Smallwood of Victoria Harbour, Ont., Rob Weitemeyer of Vancouver, B.C., Andrew Ireland of Hamilton, Ont. and Ryan Howard of Rockport, Ont.
The lightweight women's double of Lysanne Lavigne of Boucherville, Que. and Lindsay Jennerich of Victoria, B.C. - defending champions in this event - were second in their heat this morning and won their repechage this afternoon in 7:32.29. They will face Australia, China, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden in tomorrow's final.
The lightweight men's four was second in this morning's heat and third in the rep in a time of 6:24.23, and advance to the A final to face Germany, Australia, France, Ireland and the Czech Republic tomorrow.
"We had a very good day's racing," said Canadian National Team head coach, Brian Richardson. "All the crews are improving with each race, and the men's eight is looking strong for tomorrow's final."
The Canadian women's four just missed out on a chance to go to the medal round by finishing third after Germany and Russia in the repechage race this afternoon. Yesterday, the men’s pair won its heat and will row in the semi tomorrow morning.
This annual regatta brings together developing elite rowers who are under the age of 23 and are not juniors or in the senior A category.