Victoria rowers Lindsay Jennerich and Patricia Obee and the Langford-based Canadian women鈥檚 rugby team left golden calling cards Sunday in Europe in their last official competitions before the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics.
sa国际传媒 won the France Sevens in Clermont-Ferrand, beating Fiji 12-5 in the quarter-finals, England 31-10 in the semifinals and world No. 1 Australia 29-19 in the final. It was only sa国际传媒鈥檚 second all-time World Series tournament title.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had moments of brilliance all season. For us, it was about consistency . . . to do it for the full 14 minutes [duration of a sevens game] and then for the full 20 minutes [duration of a sevens championship game],鈥� said Canadian standout Ghislaine Landry, in her post-tournament interview with the organizers.
sa国际传媒 will head into the Rio Games as the third seed behind the Aussies and Kiwis. Both sa国际传媒 and England finished tied for third, based on season points, with sa国际传媒 awarded third on tie-breakers. That will be crucial for Olympic seeding.
sa国际传媒 returns to Westhills Stadium in Langford and PISE in Saanich for the final training camp and push to Rio.
Meanwhile, Jennerich and Obee won the women鈥檚 lightweight doubles in the prestigious Lucerne World Cup regatta.
鈥淚t is a good result, but by no means, THE result. We will use the regatta to learn and step up to Rio,鈥� said Obee, from Lucerne.
鈥淲e executed exactly the way we wanted to in Lucerne, and it was great to see where that put us relative to our competitors.鈥�
Victoria-based Rowing sa国际传媒 has qualified seven boats for Rio, but with only Jennerich and Obee registering a Canuck podium appearance in the Lucerne World Cup.
The national team boats, split between Elk Lake in Saanich and Lake Fanshawe in London, Ont., now return for pre-Olympic camps.
Meanwhile, Jamie Broder of Victoria and Kristina Valjas of Toronto were 17th Sunday in the Moscow Grand Slam women鈥檚 beach volleyball tournament. The disappointing result in Russia dropped the duo one spot to 12th overall in the world, but they are still solid for the top-16 and Rio Olympic qualification, with the final qualifier looming next week in Hamburg.
The all-Ontario pairing of Heather Bansley and Sarah Pavan pounded the Moscow sand full force and won bronze. They are world No. 5 and will bear watching in Rio.
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