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Canadian rowers shine at World Cup regatta

Rowing Canada, based in Victoria and London, Ont., has been lower in profile since the dramatic departure of legendary coach Mike Spracklen from Elk Lake.

Rowing Canada, based in Victoria and London, Ont., has been lower in profile since the dramatic departure of legendary coach Mike Spracklen from Elk Lake.

But now the Canadian boats that are being targeted for medals at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics are coming into sharper focus. They include the men’s four, women’s lightweight double, women’s quad sculls and women’s eight.

All those crews medalled Sunday at the annual World Cup regatta held in Lucerne, Switzerland, with the women’s eight winning gold and the women’s quad sculls silver.

The women’s lightweight double captured bronze.

“We are really proud of getting on the podium here,” said Lindsay Jennerich of Victoria, in a statement.

“We knew our place and pieced together a full race here. We were behind a bit at the start but came to set out what we wanted to do here.”

Canada has a storied history in the men’s eight, most recently with gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and silver at the 2012 London Olympics, but depth issues may see more of an emphasis on the men’s four for Rio 2016. That concentrated approach seems to be working with the Canadian four taking bronze Sunday in Lucerne behind Great Britain and the Netherlands.

The men’s four crew members from Elk Lake include 2012 London Olympics eights silver-medallists Will Crothers, Rob Gibson and Conlin McCabe along with touted newcomer Kai Langerfeld of Parksville, returning from an injury that scuttled his 2013 season.

The wildcard is whether Beijing Olympic gold-medallist and London silver-medallist eights star and medical school student Malcolm Howard of Victoria, who returns this September from twice winning the Boat Race with Oxford, will retire from rowing or go for Rio 2016. If Howard returns to Elk Lake, the Canadian men’s four could be formidable at Rio.

The big event this year is the 2014 world rowing championships Aug. 23-31 in Amsterdam.