GB men's eight cruise into final

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GB men's eight cruise into final

Great Britain's men's eight stormed into the Olympic final with an emphatic victory in their heat.

The British crew finished over a length clear of reigning Olympic champions the United States and world championship silver medallists Germany.

The British women's eight finished second in their heat and will go into Wednesday's repechage to try to seal a place in the final.

In the double sculls, Britain's women won their repechage to reach the final.

Elise Laverick, a bronze medallist in Athens, and Olympic debutant Anna Bebington sat comfortably in second place for most of the race before producing a strong finish to overtake Germany.

"We turned it on when we needed to," said Bebington.

Britain will be up against world champions China and world silver medallists New Zealand in Saturday's final.

Bebington added: "There are three strong crews who will be racing on Saturday - the Chinese, the Kiwis and the Czechs.

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"We will have to take them down one at a time. We are going to have to raise our game again to get past just one of them.

"But we have beaten the Czechs already this season so that gives us confidence."

Britain's fine performances continued in the single sculls, where Alan Campbell qualified for the semi-finals.

Campbell, who hails from Coleraine in Northern Ireland, led early in the race before slipping back to third as Germany's Marcel Hacker and Swiss sculler Andre Vonarburg took charge.

But Campbell produced a powerful finish to overtake Vonarburg in the final 500m and move comfortably into the semi-finals.

Campbell, who underwent a knee operation just two months ago, said: "It was another step forward with the knee. I gave it a little push at the end to test the limits but kept well within myself.

"There is more to come now for the semi-final. I have got to get into the top three and qualify for that A final. This is the big one now."

However, the men's pair of Robin Bourne-Taylor and Tom Solesbury became the first British crew to be eliminated from medal contention after finishing fourth in their repechage.

We have things to work on, like our start, but we know we have got raw speed Katy Greves

The British men's eight crew features Alex Partridge, who missed out on the last Olympics through injury.

Partridge was originally selected in the men's four for Athens but suffered a collapsed lung just five weeks before the Games and had to watch from home as Matthew Pinsent and co. won gold.

After Britain dominated their heat in Partridge's first taste of Olympic action, he said: "It is brilliant fun to be here. It is an experience you wouldn't get anywhere else.

"When you get a length up on the USA and look back on them you think 'that is such a long way!"'

World champions Canada won the other heat with Australia trailing in a distant last after their rudder broke.

Britain's women's eight, who were bronze medallists at the world championships, put in a good performance in their heat, growing stronger as the race wore on to establish their own medal credentials.

"That was our aim," said Katy Greves, the stroke of the boat from Henley-on-Thames.

"We have things to work on, like our start, but we know we have got raw speed.

"We have been working on the first half of our race and I think it showed today."

The British women left Canada, medallists at two of the three World Cup regattas this year, a distant third with the Germans trailing home in fourth.