THE CANADIAN PRESS
BLED, Slovenia — Canada’s men’s eight team qualified for the 2012 Olympic Games on Wednesday by advancing to the event final at the world rowing championships.
Canada finished second in its semifinal with a time of five minutes 32.37 seconds, guaranteeing a top-six finish. The top seven boats earn a berth in the London Games. Canada is the defending Olympic champion in men’s eights.
Brian Price of Belleville, Ont., Toronto’s Andrew Byrnes and Victoria’s Malcolm Howard were part of the 2008 team that won gold in Beijing. The other rowers in the crew headed to London are Will Crothers of Kingston, Ont., Rob Gibson of Kingston, Conlin McCabe of Brockville, Ont., Jeremiah Brown of Cobourg, Ont., Doug Csima of Oakville, Ont., and Gabe Bergen of 100 Mile House, B.C.
"I think everyone was really excited for this one — a lot was on the line in this semifinal with Olympic qualifying," Byrnes said. "We came out with a lot of energy and good focus.
"We did what we wanted to do — raced hard right at the start, pushed hard in the middle and I think it’s going to be really tight tomorrow. I’m predicting five boats crossing the line with maybe only half a length between first and fifth."
Great Britain finished first in the semifinal, while Australia finished third and also advanced.
Germany, the Netherlands and Poland advanced from the other semifinal.
In other racing, the Canadian men’s four won its repechage to advance to the semifinals. Canada crossed the line in 6:00.18, with the Czech Republic also qualifying in 6:03.34.
"It was great to see the guys win the rep," said coach Terry Paul. "They made it harder than they needed to and struggled with the steering in the first 1000 (metres). Despite that, they demonstrated that they have the raw speed to challenge the top crews in the semi and potentially for the medals on Sunday.
The four is Montreal’s Derek O’Farrell, Will Dean of Kelowna, B.C., Winnipeg’s Kevin Kowalyk and Vancouver’s Anthony Jacob.
The lightweight men’s double team of Doug Vandor (Dewittville, Que.) and Cam Sylvester (Caledon, Ont.) finished second in its heat in 6:24.65 and advanced to the semifinal.
Greece won in 6:24.26 and France was third in 6:25.06 .
The Canadian men’s coxed pair was second in its repechage in 7:03.74, and now has a chance to medal in the final on Friday. Germany won in 7:02.80.
The Canadian light men’s pair missed out on qualifying for the A final after a fourth-place finish in the semifinal.