The conditions on the course were again on the minds of rowers and coaches today at the 2002 FISA World Rowing Championships on the Guadalquivir river in Seville, Spain (Sept. 15 to 22).
Canadian crews, however, managed the breezy course well to advance in three more boat classes at these Worlds.
Canada’s lightweight single sculler, Gen Meredith, won her repechage race and will advance to the semi-finals. Meredith, of Ste. Anne-de-Bellevue, Que., held off Marie-Louise Drager of Germany and Karola Schustereder of Austria to win the race in a time of 7:46.91.
"Gen’s goal was to be more aggressive off the gates and row well," said lightweight coach Terry Paul. "In these strong tailwind conditions, you can't afford to be sloppy."
2001 World bronze medal pair, Jacqui Cook and Karen Clark, also advanced to the semi-finals, winning this morning's repechage. The Canadians handled the wind well and dominated the race, finishing ahead of New Zealand (7:17.49) and Australia (7:19.16) in a time of 7:13.45.
"It's nothing we haven't rowed in before," said Cook of Burlington, Ont. "You realize you are going to take some bad strokes and it's how you react that makes the difference. I think we reacted pretty well."
Cook and Clark are also part of the women's eight at this Championships, which means they race almost everyday of the competition. "It's just one day at a time," said Clark, a native of Delta, B.C. "You can't think too far ahead."
The Canadian men's pair of Scott Frandsen of Kelowna, B.C. and Cam Baerg of Saskatoon, Sask. advances to the semi-finals after finishing second in a dramatic race that saw the American pair’s boat capsize in the strong winds. Daniel Walsh and Adam Holland did not finish and were rescued from the choppy water.
The wind did not deter the Canadian pair. "We had a good first 1200 metres - in the second 500 we moved out on everyone," Frandsen said of the pair's early lead. However, the South Africans took over to win the rep in the last part of the race.
"We were able to keep a lot of speed," said Baerg, "but we have to work on the last 750 to 500 metres of the (2000-metre) race to be able to maintain control." Canada’s time was 6:32.10.
In the final Canadian repechage race of the day, Buffy Williams of St. Catharines, Ont. and Kubet Weston of Tillsonburg, Ont. were third in 7:04.80 and do not advance to the medal round. Great Britain and France dominated the rep and will advance to the finals.
Although Weston and Williams are both Canadian women's team veterans, this is their first year rowing internationally in the double, a sculling event. Williams won a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympics as the stroke of the women's eight.
Racing continues tomorrow with Canada having the opportunity to advance in four more events - the lightweight men's pair, lightweight women's double, lightweight men's double and the women's eight.
Canadian Results (in order of racing) - Sept. 17/02 FISA World Rowing Championships - Seville, Spain
Lightweight women's single 1. CAN 07:46.91 2. GER 07:51.59 3. AUT 07:57.99
Women's pair 1. CAN 07:13.45 2. NZL 07:17.49 3. AUS 07:19.16 4. CHN 07:22.47 5. ISR 07:39.97
Men's pair 1. RSA 06:28.19 2. CAN 06:32.10 3. LTU 06:37.10 4. USA dnf
Women's double 1. GBR 06:53.12 2. FRA 06:54.87 3. CAN 07:04.80 4. LTU 07:07.12
Full results can be found at www.worldrowing.com Canadian updates at http://www.rowingcanada.org/en/news/index.html
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Jackie Skender - Rowing Canada Aviron
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