The metaphorical samba beat grows ever louder as August nears. The winter of training is done on Elk Lake in Saanich and Lake Fanshawe in London, Ont. It鈥檚 time to get on with it.
Victoria-based Rowing sa国际传媒 released its list of 28 athletes Tuesday for World Cup I from April 15-17 in Varese, Italy. The list can basically be seen as the broad roster outline for the 2016 Rio Olympic team. Included are six crews that have already qualified for Rio.
Among them is the highly regarded women鈥檚 lightweight double sculls crew of Islanders Lindsay Jennerich out of Claremont Secondary and Patricia Obee from Stelly鈥檚 Secondary.
The Canadian women鈥檚 eight is also a threat for the Olympic podium at Rio and includes Christine Roper of Victoria and UVic Vikes product Antje von Seydlitz-Kurzbach.
The Elk Lake-based men鈥檚 four consists of 2012 London Olympics silver-medallists Conlin McCabe and Will Crothers along with Kai Langerfeld of Parksville and Tim Schriver of Thedford, Ont.
鈥淐anadian rowers are heading into an intense period of competition, with the Olympic and Paralympic Games quickly approaching,鈥� said Peter Cookson, the high-performance director for Rowing sa国际传媒.
World Cup II is May 27-29 in Lucerne, Switzerland, and World Cup III in Poznan, Poland, from June 17-19.
鈥淭he World Cups will be a perfect opportunity for the rowers to demonstrate the hard work they have put in during the winter and to work on the things that will lead to success in Rio in a few months time,鈥� added Cookson, in a statement.
The men鈥檚 quad sculls, which has yet to qualify for Rio, includes Olympic silver-medallist Rob Gibson and Julien Bahain of Victoria City Rowing Club. Kate Sauks of Victoria City will contest the lightweight women鈥檚 single sculls in Italy, while Brendan Hodge out of Brentwood College is in the lightweight men鈥檚 four boat and Caileigh Filmer of Vic City and Jennifer Martins of Toronto are in the women鈥檚 pair.
The Canadian rowing roster for the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics will be announced June 28 in Toronto.
sa国际传媒 won two rowing medals, both silvers in the men鈥檚 and womens鈥� eights, at London 2012.
