Canadian rowers lock up 2 more Olympic spots at worlds
Women's 8, men's lightweight 4 secure quotas for 2016 Games
Canada's women's 8 rowers stormed back to claim a bronze medal on the final day of the world rowing championships in Aiguebelette, France. In doing so, they also secured a quota spot for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
The 8, comprised by Lisa Roman (Langley, BC), Cristy Nurse (Georgetown, Ont.), Jennifer Martins (Toronto), Ashley Brzozowicz (Omemee, Ont.), Christine Roper (Ottawa), Susanne Grainger (London, Ont.), Natalie Mastracci (Thorold, Ont.), Lauren Wilkinson (North Vancouver) and long-time coxswain Lesley Thompson-Willie (London, Ont.), were fourth at the midway point of the race but moved up to a podium position behind the United States, who clinched their 10th world title and a crew from New Zealand.
"The boat felt powerful," Canada's Natalie Mastracci said. "A strong rhythm was established right from the beginning and everyone was supporting each other in the crew.
"We use this (finish) as fuel to fire up the next twelve months of training."
Canada also qualified another crew, giving them six in all for the world championships when the men's lightweight four placed fifth in the B final.
That put them 11th overall as they just managed to grab the last qualifying position. The crew was made up of Maxwell Lattimer (Langley, BC), Brendan Hodge (Langley, BC), Nicolas Pratt (Kingston) and Eric Woelfl (St. Catharines, Ont.)
In women's single sculls, Carling Zeeman (Cambridge, Ont.) was sixth in the A final. Zeeman had already qualified a quota spot for Rio based on her semi-final results.
Canada ended the weeklong regatta with a pair of bronze medals, the other produced in the legs/trunk/arms mixed coxed four.
In total, Canada qualified six crews for the Olympics and one crew for the Paralympics.
With files from The Canadian Press