"...a huge 45 stroke rate sprint..."

Repechage 2
Canada’s Douglas Vandor and Cameron Sylvester got out to an early lead in the second repechage. Last year, with a different partner, Vandor had finished twelfth – one spot outside of Olympic qualification – now with Sylvester he is trying again. Pedro Fraga and Nuno Mendes of Portugal moved into second position and were the closest challengers to Canada. Russia’s Mikhail Izotov and Andrey Shevel followed in third. Coming into the line Portugal pulled out a huge 45 stroke rate sprint and nearly overtook Canada. Canada, Portugal and Russia advance to the semifinal. Croatia and Finland will not be going to the Olympics in this event.

Pedro Fraga, POR
“Yesterday was not very good. We didn’t go with the other boats and it wasn’t what we were expecting. Today we had another gear, tomorrow we’ll do everything to get to the final, and in the final anything is possible.”

Cameron Sylvester, CAN
“I think our mentality today was more that we were not taking anyone for granted. Yesterday we learned from that. We treated it a little more as ‘a heat’ but today it was a little more serious for our mentality throughout the entire race. We’re happy with the race. Doug and I have been rowing together for just two months. We’re getting better each time we get on the water and learning new things each day and if we apply it to the racing we’ll be ok.
No one knew what to expect from Poland. Everyone knew that they have their weight problems but it can go either way with them. It shows how much weight can dictate performance for lightweight rowing.”

Fonte:
World Rowing - Official Website