Men’s 8 returns to podium

The men’s 8 rowing crew is back on the podium.

The men’s 8 rowing crew is back on the podium. The defending gold-medallist boat held on to throw down an incredible performance Wednesday and capture a silver medal for Canada, our fifth of the Games and first silver. A late push through the last 500m put them in the silver spot, behind Germany in a time of 5:49.98.

Will Crothers, Conlin McCabe, Malcolm Howard, Rob Gibson, Doug Csima, Andrew Byrnes, Jeremiah Brown, Gabe Bergen and Price returned from a shaky start in qualifying rounds to step up when it mattered most.

“The start was really clean and quick, and I just remember staying really internal and in our own boat,” said Gibson. “The Germans are the cream of the crop and we didn’t want to get phased by their speed. We did everything.”

Everything, indeed.

“An unreal race, we were so stoked,” said Csima. “We executed our plan exactly and it was a great feeling rowing through the British in the last 250 metres.”

In other Rowing action Wednesday the men’s pair of David Calder and Scott Frandsen fought off the Italians in their semi to secure a spot in the A final after stopping the clock at 6:56.47.

“We’re through and now we need to get focused on what it’s going to take to get a medal,” said Calder. “Everything’s going to reset and we’ll be back.”

In the lightweight doubles sculls, Doug Vandor and Morgan Jarvis dominated in 7:02.85 to win their semifinal and move on to the C final 7:02.85.