Great Britain ease into Women's four final at World Cup in Linz

The quartet of Fiona Gammond, Holly Norton, Karen Bennett and Rebecca Shorten beat Germany by almost six seconds to comfortably win heat one and set the third fastest time overall.

They join heat two winners Australia as the automatic qualifiers for Sunday’s final, with the repechage deciding the other finalists on Saturday.

Both women’s pairs took victory in their respective heats. Anastasia Chitty and Rebecca Girling set the second fastest time overall behind New Zealand, while Rowan McKellar and Hattie Taylor set the third fastest time overall to win heat three.

In the men’s event, both the double and quadruple sculls also cruised to victory with their boat class’s fastest times.

Jack Beaumont and Angus Groom, silver medallists in Belgrade, beat Italy by three seconds in their heat, while the quad of John Collins, Jonny Walton, Graeme Thomas and Tom Barras looked impressive as they beat New Zealand.

British Rowing’s Director of Performance, Brendan Purcell, said: "It was a solid first day of racing, with some standout performances from a number of GB crews.

"It was good experience for our crews to race under time trial conditions and it was fantastic to see so many crews progress to the next rounds of competition."

Sportsbeat 2018