THE CANADIAN PRESS

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LINZ/OTTENSHEIM, Austria - The Canadian men's coxed pair boat won gold on the final day of the senior world rowing championships Sunday.

The Canadian boat, which includes Gabe Bergen of 100 Mile House, B.C., James Dunaway of Duncan, B.C., and cox Mark Laidlaw of Mississauga, Ont., won in 7:06.69.

France was second in 7:08.64 while Australia followed at 7:09.30.

Although the defending champions from Poland led most of the way down the course, they ended up in fifth place after one of the crew members couldn't finish the race.

"We had a good race in the final, we stayed in our boat and just listened to Mark telling us what was happening, and just followed the race plan the whole way down," said Dunaway. "It felt great to hear the national anthem again."

"They executed the plan with precision," added coach Allison Dobb. "They have raced well throughout the regatta and were able to make the changes required each time to have their best race."

One of the favourites leading into the lightweight women's single event, Lindsay Jennerich of Victoria, finished sixth in 8:01.25, after having a tough race that saw her catch an oar on debris.

The race for first-place was a photo finish between Switzerland's Pamela Weisshaupt (7:43.26) and Ireland's Sinead Jennings (7:43.81) - two rowers that Jennerich had beaten earlier this year in World Cup races.

In other racing, Canada's lightweight men's eight was sixth in 5:56.55. The U.S. won the race in 5:50.29, followed by Germany (5:51.69) and the Netherlands (5:52.37).

The lightweight eight is Brandon Boyd and Kurtis Boyd both of Brockville, Ont., Guthrie Hurd of Vancouver, Paul Amesbury of Ottawa, Terry McKall of Edmonton, Tim Myers of North Vancouver, B.C., Nicholas Pratt and Rares Crisan of Kingston, Ont., and cox Mark Laidlaw of Mississauga.

The Canadian women's four was fifth in 6:50.99. Belarus won gold in this event in 6:39.89.

The four is Emma Darling of Vancouver, Sarah Waterfield of Kingston, Ont., Nathalie Maurer of North Vancouver and Cristin McCarty of Saskatoon.