The start lists for the heats on the opening days of the World Rowing Championships (Aug. 28 to Sept. 04) were released in Bled, Slovenia.
Canada's crews are eager to race beginning with a busy day on Sunday. "It was a decent draw for most crews, some heats are tougher than others, but that's expected," said Rowing Canada Aviron High Performance Director, Peter Cookson.
Highlights on Sunday will include the men's pair, Olympic silver medalists and recent World Cup bronze medalists, Dave Calder and Scott Frandsen.
"The draw for the pair was pretty much as expected based on results from Lucerne - Hungary is a good crew that we will keep and eye on," said Terry Paul, the coach of the pair and men's four. "If we want to medal in the four here, we have to beat World Cup finalists Germany and Serbia."
The men's eight also has its first race on Sunday. "We are happy with the draw," said men's eight Olympic gold medalist Andrew Byrnes. "The top crews are nicely spread out over the three heats." The top three boats from the heats in this event advance to the semifinals.
On Monday, the women's eight - silver medalists in Lucerne at the World Cup in July - makes its debut; and finally the lightweight women's double will race with with only half of its World Championship combination, Lindsay Jennerich, while Patricia Obee fills in for Tracy Cameron, who is on the mend from a rib injury.
"It's only the first-place crew that advances to the semi in this event," said coach Al Morrow. "We will be keeping an eye on all crews, especially Germany and Belarus in our heat."
In all, Canada has a total of 10 of the possible 14 Olympic class entries (W8+, M8+, M4-, LM4-, W2x, LW2x, W2-, LM2x, M2-, M2x) and three non-Olympic class entries (M2+, LM2- and LW1x) and one adaptive (Paralympic) crew (LTA4+).
Here's a run-down of the heats (in order of racing):
Sunday Aug. 28
Men's double
Fraser Berkhout (St. Catharines, ON) and Mike Wilkinson (North Vancouver, BC) face Korea, Italy, Germany, Australia and the U.S.
Lightweight men's four
John Sasi (North Delta, BC), Mike Lewis (Victoria, BC), Rares Crisan (Mississauga, ON) and Matt Jensen (Innerkip, ON) have drawn Poland, Australia, China, France and Cuba. Only the top crew advances directly to the semi.
Lightweight men's pair
Morgan Jarvis (Winnipeg, MB) and Tim Myers (Penticton, BC) are up against Great Britain, Switzerland, the U.S. and Bulgaria.
Women's pair
Carolyn Ganes (Saskatoon, SK) and Larissa Lagzdins (Burlington, ON) will row against China, Romania, Croatia, the U.S. and Bulgaria in the first heat of this event, with top two going to the smei.
Men's eight
This year's lineup is Brian Price (Belleville, ON), Will Crothers (Kingston, ON), Rob Gibson (Kingston, ON), Andrew Byrnes (Toronto, ON), Malcolm Howard (Victoria, BC), Conlin McCabe (Brockville, ON), Jeremiah Brown (Cobourg, ON), Doug Csima (Oakville, ON), and Gabe Bergen (100 Mile House, BC). In the first of three heats, they face the Netherlands, France, Czech Republic and the Ukraine.
Women's Lightweight single
Nova Scotian Tracy Cameron lines up alone against Hong Kong, Iran, Switzerland and Portugal. Top two move to the semi.
Men's pair
World Cup bronze medalists David Calder (Victoria, BC) and Scott Frandsen (Kelowna, BC) drew Cuba, Australia, Czech Republic, Spain and Hungary. Only first-place goes to the semifinal of this event.
Women's double
New combination - Kerry Shaffer (Welland, ON) and Emily Cameron (Summerside, PEI) - face Germany, Great Britain, the U.S. and Austria.
Men's four
Derek O'Farrell (Montreal, QC), Will Dean (Kelowna, BC), Kevin Kowalyk (Winnipeg, MB) and Anthony Jacob (Vancouver, BC) face Iran, Serbia, Russia, Germany and Romania.
Lightweight men's double
Longtime doubles partners Doug Vandor (Dewittville, ON) and Cam Sylvester (Caledon, ON) are in heat three of this event - with Egypt, Switzerland, El Salvador, Netherland and Algeria. Top three go to the quarter-final round.
Monday, Aug. 29
Adaptive coxed four (LTAMix4+)
World Champions Tony Theriault (Victoria, BC), David Blair (Ottawa, ON), Meghan Montgomery (Winnipeg, MB), Victoria Nolan (Toronto, ON) and Laura Comeau (St. Catharines, ON) race internationally for the first time since last year's Worlds. They line up against the Ukrain, China, Estonia and Korea.
Men's coxed pair
Coxswain Brian Price, an Olympic gold medalist in the men's eight, doubles up with men's team alternates Kevin Light (Sidney, BC) and Steven Van Knotsenburg (Beamsville, ON) facing the Ukraine, Italy, and the U.S.
Women's eight
The women's eight of Lesley Thompson Willie (London, ON), Andreanne Morin (Montreal, QC), Darcy Marquardt (Richmond, BC), Ashley Brzozowicz (London, ON), Krista Guloein (Port Moody, BC), Rachelle Viinberg (Regina, SK), Natalie Mastracci (Thorold, ON), Cristy Nurse (Georgetown, ON) and Janine Hanson (Winnipeg, MB) meet China, Romania and the Netherlands. World Champions, the USA, are in the second heat of this event.
Lightweight women's double
Last but not least, 2010 World Champion Lindsay Jennerich (Victoria, B.C.) teams up with relative newcomer Patricia Obee (Victoria, B.C.) to face Spain, Belarus, Austria, Germany and France in the second of four heats on Monday.
Download the draw and follow results on World Rowing:
http://www.worldrowing.com/events/2011-world-rowing-championships