BLED, Slovenia — Canadian crews laid claim to a pair of gold medals plus a bronze Sunday at the first World Cup of the rowing season.
The women’s pair of Krista Guloien and Ashley Brzozowicz, along with the lightweight double duo of Doug Vandor and Cam Sylvester won their events, while the men’s four took third spot.
Guloien, from Port Moody, B.C., and Brzozowicz, from Toronto, won in a time of seven minutes 20.60 seconds, well ahead of China’s 7:22.81. Americans Susan Francia and Erin Cafaro, the reigning world champions, were third in 7:22.86.
“Today’s race was our best of the three,” said Brzozowicz. “We have happily learned a lot from this regatta; making progress from the heat through the semis and into the final. I don’t think it gets much better than setting out to achieve a goal and achieving it.”
Added Guloien: “We are feeling very motivated to get home and do more work. This is just the beginning of the racing season and what a great way to start it out.”
Vandor, from Dewittville, Que., and Sylvester, from Caledon, Ont., cruised to a comfortable victory on Lake Bled in 6:27.80, ahead of Italy (6:31.87) and France (6:33.24).
“Doug and I are happy with the race,” said Sylvester. “After a hard winter of training it was nice to put our fitness to the test to see how we stand against some of the competition. We’re looking forward to getting back to Victoria to continue our training and preparation for English Henley and Lucerne (World Cup).”
Michael Wilkinson of North Vancouver, B.C., Robert Gibson of Kingston, Ont., Douglas Csima of Oakville, Ont., and Fraser Berkhout of St. Catharines, Ont., finished third in the men’s four in 6:09.04.
Britain won gold in 6:06.44 while Serbia took silver in 6:08.18.
“The guys went out in only their third race together and committed to the plan and executed,” said four’s coach Terry Paul.
In other action, Isolda Penney of Kingston finished sixth in her first World Cup regatta with a time of 7:48.09. Multiple Olympic medallist Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus won the women’s singles in 7:36.03. Malcolm Howard of Victoria won the men’s singles B final to finish seventh overall. Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic won gold in 6:49.58.
Gabe Bergen of 100 Mile House, B.C., and Steven van Knotsenburg of Beamsville, Ont., took top spot in the men’s doubles B final.
The Canadian light four of Matt Jensen of Innerkip, Ont., John Sasi of North Delta, B.C., Rares Crisan of Mississauga, Ont., and Mike Lewis of Victoria finished fourth in their B final.