It was another thrilling performance for North Vancouver’s Kai Langerfeld and racing partner Conlin McCabe in Olympic pairs rowing, as the come-from-behind duo made a late move but finished just off the podium Thursday in Tokyo.
The Canadians were last in the pairs final, sixth place, at the halfway mark of the race before pouring on the speed to get into the medal hunt. Their late charge fell just short, however, as they finished 0.55 seconds behind Denmark to place fourth.
“It was really close,” stated McCabe, a Brockville Ont. native, in a Rowing Canada release. “We had a great sprint, a great start. We left it all out there. Super proud with how we rowed that. We were just going as fast as we could, it felt like the boat was flying underneath us. We were taking great strokes, we were going so fast in these conditions.”
The tight finish came one day after another thriller that saw Langerfeld and McCabe move up from fifth to third place in the final 500 metres of their semifinal race to earn a berth in the final.
Langerfeld made his Olympic debut in 2016, helping the coxless four team finish sixth.
The son of an Olympic rower, Langerfeld was born in North Van, went to high school in Parksville and now lives in Victoria.
