Racing continued under cloudy skies near Munich, Germany, at the World Rowing Championships (Aug. 26 to Sept. 2) today.
In an upset for Canada, the women's pair finished fourth in the semi today, just missing out on a place in the medal race. Now the crew - Darcy Marquardt of Richmond, B.C. and Jane Rumball of Fredericton, N.B. - will re-focus their efforts on capturing an Olympic berth. They will have to finish at least second, or eighth overall, in the B final
"In a pre-Olympic year, the primary goal is to qualify this event for Canada," said Rumball, who lives in London, Ont. "We still have that goal to achieve. I didn't picture us having to do that in the B final, but we will review this race with our coach and see what improvements we can make."
The Canadian pair, World Champions in 2006, had a strong start, but were overtaken. At the line, Romania (7:47.21), Australia (7:50.36) and Germany (7:50.92) ended up with the top three positions and will row for medals on Saturday, against Belarus, New Zealand and China. Canada's time was 7:54.67, in a headwind.
The men's pair also finished fourth in a gutsy race that saw strong pairs from Australia, South Africa and France move to the medal round.
"Typically they have a faster start, but today they got too far back early on in the race," said the pair's coach, Allison Dobb, an assistant to men's coach Mike Spracklen, "they had an incredible last 1000 metres and now we have to look at the race and see how they can find more speed for the B final."
The top 11 boats in the men's pair qualify for the Olympics, so Canada still has a chance if Jarvis and Casaca finish in the top five of the B final.
In the lightweight women's single, Melanie Kok of St. Catharines, Ont. advanced in a race she dominated from the first stroke. Kok took the race in 8:41.05, with Croatia (8:44.44) and Finland (8:44.71) in a tight race for second and third. Kok will race for a Worlds' medal, but the lightweight single is not an Olympic event.
In the lightweight men's single, Tim Colson of London, Ont. finished fifth in 7:51.95 and will row in a B final. Colson also rowed this event at the recent Under-23 Worlds in Scotland, finishing fourth.
Later in the day, the men's quad raced well to win a semi C/D and move to the C final to determine places 13 to 18. The quad's time was 6:13.77.
Adaptive racing is also heating up, as Canada advanced two boats to the final today.
The adaptive four finished a close second to Great Britain.
"I'm very excited to be racing again in the final," said Meghan Montgomery of Winnipeg, Man., who picked up a bronze medal last year in Eton, England, at the Worlds in this event and will again be in the medal race. "We know what we need to work on to beat the other boats in the finals. It's great to have more countries here in the adaptive events because we love the challenge."
The adaptive four also includes Victoria Nolan of Toronto, Ont., Scott Rand of Calgary, Alta., Tony Theriault of Victoria and Laura Comeau (coxswain) of St. Catharines, Ont.
In the adaptive men's single, Peter Morel of Ottawa, Ont. was third in 6:2121. Australia, who won this event in the past two years at the Worlds, crossed the line in 6:06.75, followed by the U.S. in 6:07.83 (adaptive races are 1000 metres). Morel advances to the final.
Wilfredo Moré Wilson of Toronto, Ont. and Caitlin Renneson of Ottawa, Ont., medalists last year in Eton, will not get the chance to repeat a medal performance after finishing fifth today in the mixed double. Entries in the adaptive categories, rowing events for people with disabilities, increased dramatically this year as 2008 will be the first year that rowing appears in the Paralympic Games.
Racing continues. Tomorrow, the men's eight, lightweight men's four and lightweight doubles, among other crews, race in semis.