August 28, 2019 – Linz-Ottensheim, Austria
IMMEDIATE RELEASE

It was a big day of quarterfinals and repechage action with three race wins and seven Canadian teams advancing to the semi-finals this week in Linz-Ottensheim.

With the exception of the lightweight women’s single, three lightweight teams raced their quarterfinals with top three qualifying through to the semi-finals on Thursday.

Maxwell Lattimer (Delta, BC) and Patrick Keane (Victoria, BC), raced a very gusty quarterfinal, pushing through the 1500m mark even with the Czech Republic and Denmark. The Canadian young guns pipped Denmark across the finish line by only half a second (6:21.79).

“Tomorrow is the race we’ve been training for all year,” said Lattimer. “After the world championships last year, the main focus was next year’s semi-final. It’s the big dance. It’s what pushes you through all the winter training. We’ve trained hard enough that we know we just need to go out and do our job.”

Jill Moffatt (Bethany, ON) and Jennifer Casson (Kingston, ON) delivered another impressive lightweight performance advancing through to the semi-finals in 3^rd place (6:57.80), 15 seconds ahead of fourth place finishers from Austria.

“Jenny and I are happy with our race today and it was a good step up from our previous race,” said Moffatt. “We do know that there is a cut off for Olympic qualification but if we have our best race, that’s all we can do. We are confident and excited to get back out there racing in the semis.”

In the final lightweight race of the day, Aaron Lattimer (Delta, BC) offered up another nail biter quarterfinal race, emptying the tank at the perfect time to row through Sean Murphy from Australia to take the race win in 6:56.90.

Top three was the magic number for progression in the women’s and men’s pair quarterfinals races today. Hillary Janssens (Cloverdale, BC) and Caileigh Filmer (Victoria, BC) sailed through the Women’s pair quarterfinal winning their race (7:10.96) and progress to A/B semifinals tomorrow morning ahead of their Women’s eight repechage in the afternoon.

Conlin McCabe (Brockville, ON) and Kai Langerfeld (Vancouver, BC) raced a commendable quarterfinal this morning crossing the line in 2^nd behind Italy to qualify through to the semifinals; however, in a strange turn of events, the jury called a re-row as a consequence of an umpire’s launch colliding with the Polish crew’s oar.

“It’s horrible what happened to Poland,” said McCabe. “I heard a noise in the race but we never saw a flag, we didn’t know it was called off. It wasn’t until we got to the dock that our coach Jeremy told us we may have to re-row. It’s one of those things you always say, ready to race anytime anywhere, but then the reality of that set in today.”

The top finishing nations from this quarterfinal, including Canada, submitted a proposal requesting other alternatives to a full re-row however, the proposal was rejected and the Men’s pair quarterfinal #2 was re-rowed at the end of the day.

On the re-row, all three nations previously qualified, Italy, Romania and Canada, still progressed through to semi-finals with Canada slipping back one spot into third. The A/B semi-final has been rescheduled to Friday.

Andrea Proske (Langley, BC) and Gabrielle Smith (Unionville, ON) raced their women’s double repechage today securing the win over Belarus in 7:02.65 and advancing to the A/B semifinals tomorrow.

 “Our goal was to row a race we knew we were capable of and a race that we would be happy with in terms of how the boat was moving, how we were moving, and I think we moved well together today,” said Gabbie Smith.

This is the second world championship for this crew combination, finishing 6^th at the 2018 World Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

“It is definitely less stressful and less overwhelming this year which has allowed me to row better,” said Smith. “As a crew we have taken huge steps forward and we are much more in sync with each other and have found a better rhythm.”

Rio Olympian Carling Zeeman (Cambridge, ON) safely advanced to her A/B semi-final, finishing behind Victoria Thornley from Great Britain with a time of 7:33.84. The women’s single A/B semi-finals are scheduled for tomorrow.

Loren Pearson (Kamloops, BC) raced in the PR1 men’s single repechage finishing 4^th in his first international repechage to progress to the C/D semi-final tomorrow. With only seven Paralympic quota spots up for grabs in Linz, Canada may consider qualification during the Final Paralympic Qualification Regatta in Gavirate, Italy in May 8^th-10^th, 2020.

Matt Buie (Duntroon, ON) and Trevor Jones (Lakefield, ON) finished just outside A/B semifinal qualification today in 4^th, progressing to the C/D semi-final tomorrow.

Tomorrow, Canada will race in the repechages (Eights) and semifinals. Check worldrowing.com for latest schedule.

Racing continues until September 1, 2019 with live streaming available every day at CBC Sports.

Photos of Team Canada (copyright Rowing Canada Aviron) can be viewed here.

To receive live event updates and results via whatsapp for Finals starting on Friday, join the group here. (phone and whatsapp required)

The 2019 World Rowing Championships Qualification System for Tokyo 2020 can be found here.

When and Where
August 25-September 1, 2019
Linz-Ottensheim, Austria
Schedule to be released here

How to Follow Racing 
Live tracking and blogging every day at www.worldrowing.com.
Live streaming available in Canada at CBC Sports.

Media Guide

View World Rowing’s World Rowing Championships media guide here. Bio information for Canadian team found here.

Join the conversation @rowingcanada: #WRChamps #rowtotokyo #rowingcanada #truenorthstrong