The Canadian men's coxed pair and lightweight women's single both qualified for the finals today at the 2008 World Rowing Championships in Linz/Ottensheim, Austria.
The Canadian coxed pair - Gabe Bergen of 100 Mile House, B.C., James Dunaway of Duncan, B.C. and cox Mark Laidlaw of Mississauga, Ont. - was first in its semi in 7:12.11, followed by Australia (7:14.08) and the Ukraine 7:14.19. These crews will face Italy, France and Poland - top three finishers in the other semi - in the final on Sunday. With very little margin between the times, this promises to be an exciting A final race.
"We had a good race today, we got off the line cleanly and were able to find a strong, consistent rhythm through the middle thousand (of 2000 metres). This set us up to be able to watch the field in the last 500 and have time to react to any challenges," said Dunaway. "It's going to be a tough final on Sunday, and we're hoping to be able to continue to execute our race plan as well as we have done to this point."
Two-time 2008 World Cup gold medalist Lindsay Jennerich of Victoria also moves forward at this regatta. The U.S. (Julie Nichols) was first in this semi in 7:56.01; second was Ireland's Sinead Jennings 7:56.18 - who was a silver medalist at the World Cup in Poland earlier this summer - and Jennerich advancing in 8:01.51. These women will face scullers from Switzerland, Croatia and Spain in the medal race.
All four Canadian crews entered in this regatta (which has junior and non-Olympic boat classes competing) will be in the finals on Sunday.