Canadian crews are making moves closer to the medal podium as the competition heats up at the 2002 FISA World Rowing Championships (Sept. 15 to 22). Canada has now qualified six boats for the semis-finals, and three for the finals so far.
Today, the men's lightweight pair was the first Canadian crew to advance. Past Olympic team members in the lightweight four, Chris Davidson of Oakville, Ont. and Jon Beare of Toronto, Ont. won their repechage race in a time of 6:42.10 over pairs from Germany and Denmark to gain a berth in the semi-finals.
"We wanted to work on being aggressive in the first 1300 metres - to take control as soon as we could," said Chris Davidson, who last rowed internationally in the lightweight pair during the 1993-4 season. "In this case, we took control at the start. We've got to stay aggressive for the whole two kilometres - nobody's going to hand you anything in the semi-finals."
Fiona Milne of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. and Shona McLaren of Victoria, B.C. also won their rep this morning in the lightweight women's double. They will move to the semi-finals in their very competitive event, the only Olympic-class race open to lightweight women. "There are probably eight boats that could make the final (for only six positions), so the semi-final won't be easy, but we are looking forward to it," said Milne. Canada's time was 7:03.30, and Milne and McLaren were followed by the U.S. and Romania for the other semi-final spots.
Lightweight coach Terry Paul was pleased with today's performances: "We had high expectations for both the lightweight pair and lightweight women's double and they got the job done today."
The women's eight also did its job in the breezy tailwind conditions, and will move to the finals on the weekend. "The speed they are now turning out is world class," said Canadian women's coach, Al Morrow. "They are right in there with the 2001 World silver (Romania) and World bronze (Germany) crews. Last year, we were seventh, and now we're in the hunt - it will be an exciting final."
Today, the women were a close third to Germany (6:01.73) and Romania (6:03.61) in the repechage with a time of 6:04.01. Last year, the Canadian women's eight did not make it to the medal round at the Worlds, and settled for the B finals. With several new members in the boat, the speed has improved.
Members of the eight are Sarah Pape of Toronto, Ont., Pauline VanRoessel of Bow Island, Alta., Dorota Urbaniak of Toronto, Ont., Rachelle deJong of Regina, Sask., Darcy Marquardt of Richmond, B.C., Katy Dunnet of Vancouver, B.C., Jacqui Cook of Burlington, Ont., Karen Clark of Delta, B.C. and Roslyn MacLeod of Burlington, Ont.
"I think we're on the right track now," said Dorota Urbaniak, who last rowed in the eight in 2000 when the women won a bronze at the Sydney Olympics. "Overall, it was a good race, we're getting more efficient racing in these conditions."
The lightweight men's double of Brent Borbridge of Winnipeg, Man. and Matt McCarthy of Peterborough, Ont. will not advance after finishing fourth in the rep that saw the top two boats move on to the semi-finals.
Semi-finals begin on Thursday – with Canadian entries in the lightweight women’s single, women’s pair and men’s pair.
Canadian Results (in order of racing) - Sept. 18/02 FISA World Rowing Championships - Seville, Spain
Lightweight men's pair 1. CAN 06:42.10 2. GER 06:46.00 3. DEN 06:49.09
Lightweight women's double 1. CAN 07:03.30 2. USA 07:05.06 3. ROM 07:09.89 4. ZIM 07:14.04 5. IRL 07:20.78
Lightweight men's double 1. DEN 06:18.84 2. BRA 06:21.15 3. TUR 06:30.57 4. CAN 06:32.52 5. LTU 06:47.46
Women's eight 1. GER 06:01.73 2. ROM 06:03.61 3. CAN 06:04.01 4. BLR 06:06.25 5. CHN 06:13.61 Full results can be found at www.worldrowing.com Canadian updates at http://www.rowingcanada.org/en/news/index.html --
Jackie Skender - Rowing Canada Aviron
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