Canada's Junior men's coxed four will row in the finals at the 2005 World Rowing Junior Championships in Brandenburg, Germany, after a second-place finish in todays qualifying race.
Canada's crew was leading for the first 1500 metres, but was edged out by Poland in the final part of the course and almost taken by the British crew in a photo-finish for second.
"Poland seemed to come out of nowhere," said Terry Paul, Rowing Canada's development coach. "And from where I was watching, I thought the Brits were going to get them, but our guys got through. It was an exciting finish and a relief for us."
Poland won the qualifying race in 6:31.60, with Canada (6:32.13) in second place and Great Britain (6:32.22) just missing out on advancing. Canadian crew members are Sterling Reid of Nanaimo, B.C., Max Lang of Lumby, B.C., Josh Gracin of Fonthill, Ont., Danny Matthews of Vancouver, B.C. and Connor Teskey (cox) of Vancouver, B.C. Teskey also coxed the Junior mens eight last year at the Worlds.
The Junior women's four of Laura Fisher of Simcoe, Ont., Kristin Kelly of Brockville, Ont., Virginia Kane of London, Ont., and Alexandra Shishkov of Mississauga, Ont. will not advance to the A final after a third-place finish in their rep today.
Strong crews from Germany (6:59.33) and New Zealand (6:59.58) raced closely to take the qualifying positions leaving Canada (7:04.65), France and the Czech Republic behind.
Canada's Junior men's pair and men's four will race in semi-finals tomorrow.
Canadian Results Reps (2000m)
Aug. 4, 2005
Coxed Four (top two to A final)
POL 6:31.60
CAN 6:32.13
GBR 6:32.22
UKR 6:35.32
ESP 6:41.84
Women's four (top two to A final)
GER 6:59.33
NZL 6:59.58
CAN 7:04.65
FRA 7:11.94
CZE 7:24.14
repost from late yesterday