Pellini advances to Olympics K-4 final

Mississauga’s Chris Pellini and his Canadian teammates just did enough to advance to the men’s K-4 (four-man kayak) final at the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing earlier today.
Competing in the four-boat semi-finals, Pellini, Brady Reardon, Angus Mortimer and Rhys Hill grabbed the third and final qualifying position in the 1,000-metre event at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park.
The Russian team led the race from start to finish, taking first place with a time of 3 minutes, .459 seconds.
The Chinese team finished 1.328 seconds behind in 3:01.787, followed by the Canadians, in a time of 3:02.572.
The Australian team, led by veteran Clint Robinson, failed to make the final finishing in a time of 3:02.743.
Canada, Russia and China will now join Belarus, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland and Slovakia in Friday’s final.
dwiner@mississauga.net