Canadian rowers Janssens, Filmer ease into semis in women's pairs event
2 other Canadian boats also advance to semifinals
Canada pushed three row boats through to the semifinals on Saturday in Tokyo.
Canadian rowers Caileigh Filmer and Hillary Janssens cruised past their competition, posting the best time amongst all three heats and advancing to the semifinals in the women's pair event.
Filmer, from Victoria, B.C., and Janssens, of Cloverdale, B.C., posted a time of seven minutes and 18.34 seconds in heat one, holding first place from one 500-metre mark to the next in the 2,000-metre race.
"I think a strength of our partnership is our work ethic, and we just work as hard as we can every single day. I think that together we push each other and hold ourselves to the highest standards," the 24-year-old Filmer said. "We just have to trust that what we do in our training is going to result in us being able to reach our goals.
In Janssens' view, the job is cut out for the duo.
"Our federation has paved the way for us by doing all the hard work to get us here," the 27-year-old said. "We have simple jobs. Come out here and row fast."
Jill Moffatt, from Bethany, Ont., and Kingston's Jennifer Casson finished second in their heat of the women's lightweight double sculls event, with a time of 7:11.3 to advance to the semifinals.
The 28-year-old Moffat and 25-year-old Casson made it through the first 500 metres in third place, but powered past Japan's Tomita Chiaki and Oishi Ayami to hold onto second place and avoid the repechage round.
The Netherlands' Marieke Keijser and Ilse Paulis finished in first in the heat with a time of 7:07.73.
In the men's pair event, North Vancouver's Kai Langerfeld and Kingston's Conlin McCabe finished third in their heat to squeeze their way into the semifinals with a time of 6:40.99.
The duo held onto third place through the entirety of the race, finishing well ahead of Belarus' Dzmitry Furman Siarhei Valadzko.
Croatia's Martin Sinkovic and Valent Sinkovic finished with the top time of the day, winning the heat with a time of 6:32.41. Denmark's Frederic Vystavel and Joachim Sutton came in second posting a time of 6:36.93.
Advancing to repechage round
In the men's lightweight double sculls, Victoria, B.C., native Patrick Keane and Maxwell Lattimer of Ladner, B.C., finished 1.03 seconds behind Belgium's Niels Van Zandweghe and Tim Brys in their heat to end up in the repechage round, that will take place on Sunday in Tokyo.
Canada's women's four team finished behind China and the Netherlands in their heat, unable to avoid the repechage round to advance to the finals for the event on Saturday in Tokyo.
The Canadian men's four team came in last place in their heat, finishing 10.11 seconds behind Great Britain in the five-boat heat.
