 Cracknell and Pinsent finished first in their semi-final |
Britain's Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell breezed into the final of the coxless pairs at the World Rowing Championships in Milan. The defending champions set a blistering pace over the 2,000m course on the Idroscalo lake which only Canadians Wayne Pommen and Scott Frandsen could come close to matching.
The Britons crossed the line ahead of the Canadians with the rest of the six-boat field well behind.
The win puts the British pair on target for another world title to add to the 20 world and Olympic golds they have already won.
In their way in Saturday's final will be Australians Drew Ginn and James Tomkins, who beat them in Lucerne last year and who won their semi-final in a time 1.31 seconds quicker than the British pair.
"I'd give ourselves seven or eight out of 10 for today's race - we need to score a nine or above on Saturday," said Pinsent.
Eleven British crews qualified for the weekend finals including Cath Bishop and Katharine Grainger in the women's pairs, as well as the Olympic-winning men's eight squad.
MMIX
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