Canada's men's pair, men's four and lightweight women's double are a step closer to the medals at the Munich BearingPoint Rowing World Cup after success in their semi-final races today.
Tom Herschmiller of Comox, B.C., Jake Wetzel of Saskatoon, Sask., Barney Williams of Salt Spring Island, B.C., and Cam Baerg of Saskatoon, rowing in the men's four event, won their semi today in 5:56.28. The Germans led for most of the race, but the Canadians rowed through them in the last 200 metres (of the 2000-metre course). Germany's time was 5:57.05.
Great Britain (Steve Williams, James Cracknell, Alex Partridge, Matthew Pinsent) won the other semi in 5:57.70. Tomorrow's final promises to be nothing short of thrilling with the World Champion Canadians, the Germans and Great Britain all in a position to take gold.
"The level of racing is so high that the margins are going to be very small," said Canadian crew member Jake Wetzel. "The Brits, Germans and Canada have been separating ourselves from the rest of the field and there's only about a second between our semi-final times. We have to prove that it's not the (famous British rowers) Pinsent and Cracknell show out there. If we have a good race, we will win tomorrow." Also winning today's semi, in the lightweight women's double event, were Fiona Milne of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. and Mara Jones of Aurora, Ont. in a time of 6:59.41.
"It's been pretty exciting for us so far," said Milne, a veteran of the Canadian team who is rowing with Jones for the first time this year. "We are learning something about each other with every race."
The mens pair of Dave Calder of Victoria, B.C. and Kyle Hamilton of Richmond, B.C. was second in a time of 6:44.64 to Italy (6:43.28) in its semi and advances to the finals, which will take place tomorrow.
One of the most-anticipated finals will be the mens eight, with Canadas two-time World Champions. The boat has three new members since last year, and they are looking to show the world that they are strong in this all-important Olympic year.
"We're looking for a statement race tomorrow," said men's eight member Jeff Powell of Winnipeg, Man. "We would like to say - 'we're here, we're strong and we're ready.' We want to have a good race for ourselves and have a convincing win."
In other Canadian results today, the lightweight men's four of Gavin Hassett of Victoria, B.C., Jon Mandick also of Victoria, Iain Brambell of Brentwood Bay, B.C. and Jon Beare of Toronto, Ont. finished just out of a finals qualifying position after coming in fourth in their semi. The crew had a false start, and then ended up just behind the Danes, with Ireland and Italy coming first and second respectively, in the very competitive semi (top three advanced to the A final).
The Canadian women's eight of Sarah Pape (cox) of Toronto, Ont., Karen Clark of Delta, B.C., Romina Stefancic of Victoria, B.C., Sabrina Kolker of West Vancouver, B.C., Roslyn McLeod of Burlington, Ont., Andréanne Morin of Montreal, Que., Jacqui Cook of Burlington, Ont., Pauline Van Roessel of Bow Island, Alta. and Anna-Marie DeZwager of Victoria, B.C. finished fifth in an exhibition race today and will row in tomorrow's final.
Canada sent all seven of its Olympic-qualified boats to this World Cup to test the waters against other international crews. After tomorrow's finals, the next major competition for the team is the World Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland, later in June, where field will be even tougher and the results will be a good gauge of whats to come in Athens.