MUNICH — The Canadian men's four was eliminated from the world rowing championships Tuesday after a third-place finish in the repechage.
Barney Williams of Salt Spring Island, B.C., Rob Gibson of Kingston, Ont., Peter Dembicki of West Vancouver, B.C., and Scott Frandsen of Kelowna, B.C., finished in six minutes 29.29 seconds.
In repechage races, rowers get another chance to qualify for the next round. In the men's four, the top two boats — Slovenia and Italy — qualified for the semi-finals.
“We had a game plan and we stuck to it,” said Williams. “We expected to be able to row through them, but we were not able to do that. The reality is that the standard is increasing every year.
“I feel bad for the younger guys in the crew because I've been there before, but now we have to rally around the men's eight and pair and the other crews, in their bid to qualify for the Olympics.”
There is still one more chance to qualify boats for next year's Summer Games in Beijing, but Rowing Canada's goal is to lock up as many spots as possible at these championships. Williams won a silver medal in this Olympic-class event at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens.
Several Canadian boats advanced Tuesday, including the men's pair and coxed pair, the men's and women's lightweight singles and the adaptive mixed double.
The men's pair of Chris Jarvis of St. Catharines, Ont., and Dan Casaca of Toronto also moved a step closer to qualifying for Beijing. They finished second in their rep in 7:01.96, just behind Serbia's Goran Jagar and Nikola Stojic. The top two boats qualified for the semi-finals. All but one of the 12 boats in the semi-finals will earn Olympic berths.
In the coxed pair, Kip McDaniel of Cobble Hill, B.C., Derek O'Farrell of Montreal and coxswain Brian Price of Belleville, Ont., advanced by winning their rep in 7:26.34. The coxed pair, however, is not an Olympic event. The next race for the crew will be for world championship medals on Saturday.
In the lightweight women's single — another non-Olympic event — Melanie Kok of St. Catharines, Ont., advanced to the semi-finals with a time of 8:18.31, well ahead of second-place Germany.
“I thought it was going to be a dogfight, but it wasn't,” Kok said. “I established a lead and held it. I'm glad I had this extra race and I'm looking forward to the semi.”
Tim Colson of London, Ont., finished second to qualify in the lightweight men's single. His time of 7:44.52 was just over two seconds behind Slovenia's Bine Pislar.
Reps were also held for adaptive racers, with Wilfredo More Wilson of Toronto and Caitlin Renneson of Ottawa advancing in the mixed double sculls event.
Britain was first in 4:42.15 while Canada (4:54.37) edged out Israel (4:54.68) for second place. The top three moved on to the semi-finals.
“We're pleased with the increased level of competition and athleticism in the adaptive events,” said adaptive team co-ordinator Allison Sheard. “All of our crews are positioned well for training for the Paralympic Games and we're looking forward to some exciting final races.”
Adaptive races are 1000 metres compared with 2000 metres in the other rowing events.
Ottawa's Joan Reid did not qualify for the A final after finishing third in the women's single. She missed out on the second qualifying spot by just over half a second.
