VICTORIA, B.C. – Rowing competitions came to a conclusion on the sixth day of the 2015 Summer Universiade in Gwangju, Korea. Third-year University of Victoria Vikes women's rower Elizabeth McConnell and her crew just missed the podium in fourth place in the women's coxless four, while former Vike Tom Watson and his crew finished in eighth in the men's lightweight coxless four.

MEN'S RESULTS | WOMEN'S RESULTS | VIDEO
 
McConnell and her teammates Chloe Desroche (Queen's University), Catherine Multari (University of Western Ontario), and Jessie Lynn Loutit (University of Western Ontario) finished fourth in the heats in a time of 7:13.54, missing qualification for the final by a very small margin. They got another chance in the repechage and crossed the line in first in 7:00.72 to qualify for the A final.
 
In the final, the Canadians battled back-and-forth with the Italian boat between fourth and fifth-place but in the end it was the Canadian boat that crossed the line in fourth-place in a time of 6:48.34. Ukraine captured the gold medal and was followed by Germany and the Netherlands in second and third-place, respectively.
 
In the men's lightweight coxless four, the Canadian roster consisted of former Vike Watson (Oxford Unviersity/University of Victoria), Joshua Jon King (Trent University), James Potts (Brock University), and Taylor Ashwood (Brock Universty). 

Barely missing qualification to the A final, they finished in second in the B Final with a time of 6:13.89. The result put them in eighth place overall. Japan took the first-place honours as they finished the race in 6:00.07 and were followed by Germany and Italy in second and third-place, respectively.
 
After 13 total rowing events, Italy and the Netherlands lead in total medals as both captured six medals after three days of rowing. The Canadian roster was unable to capture any medals in the rowing competitions but has tallied two gold medals at the Universiade after seven days of competition to sit in 15th place in the overall gold medal standings.