Great Britain's women's quadruple scull continued where they left off in Munich last year to take a place in the final of the first World Cup of the season.

The crew, who won world gold on the course last September, won their heat but were slower than fellow qualifiers China, Germany and Australia.

The GB women's eight must go through the repechage after finishing third.

But the new-look men's eight, including Alex Partridge, won their heat in windy conditions to move into Sunday's final.

Partridge was dropped from the top men's boat, the coxless four, recently in favour of Tom James but James was then ruled out of this regatta with a mild back problem

With Tom Lucy in as a late replacement for James, the four overcame a late challenge from Slovenia on Thursday to win their heat in six mins, 32.13 secs and move into a Saturday semi-final.

"That's a good starter," said strokeman Andy Hodge. "The rhythm wasn't quite there yet but that's to be expected."

In another heat, the four from the Czech Republic were a second faster.

James is expected to be back in action next week, in plenty of time for the next World Cup event, starting in Lucerne on 30 May.

GB's reigning world champion lightweight four, single sculler Alan Campbell and both the openweight and lightweight double won their heats on Thursday.