Canada's men's 8 rowers place last in heat

Canada's men's eight rowing team suffered an early defeat at the London Games.

The defending Olympic champions finished fourth in their heat to drop them into the repechage round.

Canada finished well back of first-place Germany, while Britain was second and the Netherlands followed in third.

The result means Germany and the United States, which won the other heat, advance directly to the medal final on Wednesday.

Canada, which won gold at Beijing in 2008, must now finish in the top four of Monday's repechage to stay in medal contention.

Canada came into the event with high expectations after setting the world record at a World Cup in May.

"We're unhappy," said Canadian crew member Malcolm Howard. "We didn't do what we set up to do. We'll have to improve on Monday [in the repechage]."

Men's pair advances

Canada's Scott Frandsen and Dave Calder, the 2008 Olympic silver medallists in the men's pair, advanced to the semifinal round by winning their heat. The heavily favoured New Zealand pair Eric Murray and Hamish Bond won their heat to advance as well.

Double sculls boat last

Canada's Michael Braithwaite and Kevin Kowalyk finished last in their heat in the men's double sculls, and were relegated to the repechage round.