Two Canadian lightweight crews earned spots in the World Cup finals after today's semi races at the 2009 Rowing World Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland (July 10 to 12).
Canada's lightweight men's double - Doug Vandor of Dewittville, Que. and Cam Sylvester of Caledon, Ont. - came second today and advanced to the A final in 6:31.99 (2000m).
New Zealand won this semi in 6:30.27, and Italy was the third to qualify back in 6:38.27. France (6:31.50), Great Britain (6:31.57) and the Netherlands (6:32.52) qualified as a result of the other semi-final race.
"Today's race was a positive step forward for us. We're learning more with every race and gaining confidence from this," said Sylvester, a former University of Western Ontario rower. "Looking forward to tomorrow, we'll make the appropriate changes to find even more boat speed. It's going to be a great race!"
Lindsay Jennerich of Victoria, B.C. and Sheryl Preston of North Delta, B.C. also advance after a lightweight women's double semi-final race that saw a photo-finish between second and third (top three move forward to the final). Greece won the semi in 7:13.86; Germany clocked in at 7:15.18 and Canada at 7:15.19.
These three crews will face Great Britain, Belarus and Poland in the six-boat final tomorrow.
In the men's single event, Canadian Fraser Berkhout posted a time of 7:01.73, coming first in the C final to finish 13th overall.
Canada will have three boats in the medal rounds tomorrow - the lightweight men's double (LM2x), lightweight women's double (LW2x) and the men's eight (M8+), that advanced directly to the final after a first-place heat finish yesterday.
"There is a lot of confidence amongst the team here and all three crews are looking forward to tomorrow's finals," said Peter Cookson, Rowing Canada Aviron High Performance Director. "The racing will be very tough, but the athletes are well prepared and ready to fire on all cylinders."
Full results and reports are at www.worldrowing.com
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