Strong British performances at Lake Rotsee yesterday saw a further four Group B crews successfully move on from the rep?age stage at the World Championships.
The women’s heavyweight quad of Alison Mowbray, Rebecca Romero, Lisa Eyre and Elise Laverick sculled smoothly to victory, after letting Ukraine take the lead and hold it for the first half of the race. Looking untroubled, the British women then allowed their base power to take them steadily through to the lead, and a place in Sunday’s final.The British men’s eight also did the business, reaching the first marker just half a second back from leaders, Russia, then using an early push to reach past into the lead. Five of the Sydney Olympic champions row in this revised line-up, which then needed a finish in the top two crews to qualify for the A final.As the slight advantage grew to two seats, and then to a third of a length, the British crew came under intense pressure from Canada, who rowed Russia down to snatch second place. A rollicking sprint in the last 20 strokes saw the British rate rise to 43 and their lead edge out to a full half-length at the line. The result sees them join the heat winners Germany and Romania in the final, together with Croatia, who took the second rep?age in a slightly slower time.The prospects for the eight are still uncertain: although World Cup champions this year, reliable form has often seemed elusive. Medallists in the eights are often separated by mere tenths of a second, but now at least Britain is in the running, and closer to the pace.Dan Ouseley, Alex Partridge, Henry Adams and Christopher Martin have already had a successful season.

The young four won silver as a coxless boat at the Under-23 regatta in Austria last month, then took on board a cox, Peter Rudge, and passed the selection test to come here.Yesterday, the quintet raced coolly under pressure to book their first appearance in a senior World Championship final. Overlapping the winners Italy from the start, Britain had Germany sitting just seats behind for the entire race. The British oarsmen opened the gap to a third of a length in mid-course, and held off a last-ditch German challenge with an excellent final sprint.The lightweight men’s double scullers, Tim Male and Tom Middleton, also needed a top-two finish yesterday. This they found an easy task, staying hard on the heels of Japan, whose stroke is a world-champion sculler. As the field spread out behind them, both crews were able to relax and cruise the final section, saving their fire-power for Friday’s semi-finals.Britain now have nine crews already in grand finals this coming weekend, and five more racing in A-B semi-finals who aim to join them.

Of these, three pairings are in action this afternoon, led by Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell in the men’s coxless pair.With a place already booked in the coxed pairs final, the two oarsmen with 14 Olympic and world gold medals already amassed in their joint collection should have a quieter day at the office. The competition includes Italy, whom they had to fend off in the opening heat, and Yugoslavia but it would be surprising if Pinsent and Cracknell could not drop both of these pairs with ease.Also appearing today are the men’s double scull, Pete Gardner and Ian Lawson, together with Cath Bishop and Katherine Grainger in the women’s coxless pair. The British women face the World Cup champions, Belarus, who will represent a tough proposition.RESULTS FROM LUCERNEMEN: Lightweight pairs: Rep?age 1: 1 Netherlands 6min34.71sec; 2 Yugoslavia 6:38.19 Rep?age 2: 1 China 6:35.84; 2 Italy 6:36.86. Lightweight double sculls: Rep?age 1: 1 Spain 6:28.68, 2 Switzerland 6:31.51 Rep?age 2: 1 Australia 6:29.81; 2 Belgium 6:32.31 Rep?age 3: 1 Japan 6:25.17; 2 Great Britain 6:29.38 Rep?age 4: 1 Denmark 6:27.99; 2 Russia 6:29.56. Lightweight quadruple sculls: Rep?age: 1 USA 6:04.66; 2 Lithuania 6:06.08; 3 China 6:07.43. Lightweight coxless fours: Rep?age 1: 1 Canada 5:56.79; 2 Germany 5:58.13; 3 Switzerland 6:00.79.

Rep?age 2: 1 Spain 6:00.44; 2 Australia 6:00.98; 3 Netherlands 6:07.92 Rep?age 3: 1 Italy 5:59.55; 2 USA 6:04.02; 3 Poland 6:05.80. Coxed fours, Rep?age 1: 1 Romania 6:11.26; 2 Croatia 6:13.71 Rep?age 2: 1 Italy 6:10.02; 2 Great Britain 6:11.02. Quadruple sculls: Rep?age 1: 1 Ukraine 5:46.98; 2 Australia 5:48.38; 3 Russia 5:48.51. Rep?age 2: 1 USA 5:45.28; 2 Estonia 5:47.13; 3 Sweden 5:50.26. Rep?age 3: 1 Germany 5:45.15; 2 Czech Republic 5:49.70; 3 Belarus 5:52.40. Eights: Rep?age 1: 1 Great Britain 5:31.73; 2 Canada 5:33.08. Rep?age 2: 1 Croatia 5:32.86; 2 USA 5:33.87.WOMEN: Lightweight quadruple sculls: Rep?age 1: 1 USA 6:36.25; 2 Greece 6:38.80 Rep?age 2: 1 Italy 6:34.02; 2 Netherlands 6:35.95.