Spectacular spring weather greeted competitors and spectators on the final day of the 2010 World Rowing Championships (Oct. 31 to Nov. 07) at Lake Karapiro, New Zealand.
Canada's women's eight rose to the occasion today, racing to a silver medal in this event. The Americans - favourites to win - were on form crossing the line in 6:12.42, Canada was a solid second in 6:16.12 and Romania was third in 6:18.96. Great Britain, the Netherlands and China missed out on a podium appearance today.
"You set out to win, but in the grand scheme of things this is a good result for the women's program," said the women eight's coach, John Keogh. "They are going to leave here with the confidence that they are good enough to be in the mix with the best in the World and that all their hard work throughout the winter has paid off." This was Canada's fourth medal of the regatta.
The eight is Lesley Thompson-Willie (cox) (London, ON), Andreanne Morin (Montreal, QC), Darcy Marquardt (Richmond, BC), Ashley Brzozowicz (London, ON), Krista Guloien (Port Moody, BC), Rachelle de Jong (Regina, SK), Janine Hanson (Winnipeg, MB), Cristy Nurse (Georgetown, ON) and Emma Darling (Vancouver, BC).
"For me, it was pretty amazing to comeback after six years of sculling, getting into the eight, and to win a silver medal," said de Jong, a member of the 2008 quad that competed at the Beijing Olympics. "I'm really happy with the result and it makes me want to get back and train even harder."
The last time Canada won a medal at the Worlds in this event was a bronze in 2003. "Our goal was to go out and beat the Americans," said Janine Hanson, also 2008 Olympian. "But it definitely still feels great to reach the podium at the Worlds."
The men's eight also had a good race today, but in the B final. Canada held the lead throughout the 2000-metre race and crossed the line in 5:39.43 - Poland (5:40.86) and China (5:41.04) failed to give the Canadians a meaningful challenge.
"They set out to show more maturity and race smarter today, and they delivered," said men's coach Mike Spracklen. "They obviously have the power, but they did not show this previously at this World Championship."
This week, the men were fourth in their heat and then third in the rep, missing out on a berth in the A finals. The win in the B final gives the men's eight an overall ranking of seventh.
The men's eight is cox Mark Laidlaw (Mississauga, ON), Derek O'Farrell (Unionville, ON), Rob Gibson (Kingston, ON), Conlin McCabe (Brockville, ON), Andrew Byrnes (Toronto, ON), Doug Csima (Oakville, ON), David Calder (Victoria, BC), Will Crothers (Kingston, ON) and Anthony Jacob (Vancouver, BC).
Only Andrew Byrnes and David Calder have Olympic experience out of the nine crew members. Calder was a silver medalist in the men's pair in Beijing and is now part of the eight. "We were flat in the heat, and came out with too much too soon in the rep, finally in the B final we had it worked out," he said today. "We will leave New Zealand knowing that this is a crew that can come back and challenge the best in the world."
Earlier today, Sheryl Preston of North Delta, B.C. was second in her B final in 8:02.69. Preston got off to a strong start, but then the Swiss sculler, Olivia Wyss, made a move and continued to finish ahead of the Canadian in 7:59.5. This gives Canada's lightweight women's single an eighth overall in the World rankings.
In addition to today's silver in the women's eight, Canada also won the lightweight women's double (gold), adaptive coxed four (gold) and took a bronze in the lightweight men's pair event. Canada is ranked fifth in the medal standings at this Worlds - Great Britain, site of the next summer Olympics, is the top ranked nation.
"We've had some highs here, but also some disappointing performances," said Peter Cookson, High Performance Director of Rowing Canada Aviron. "We will push forward and we'll never be complacent. We're always looking for that edge and this will be very important leading up to the Olympic qualifier next year and the Olympics in 2012."