Katherine Grainger, Frances Houghton, Rebecca Romero and Sarah Winckless are the first British crew into a final at the World Rowing Championships. The quartet held off the challenge of the Ukraine to reach the final of the women's quad in Gifu, Japan.
The Brits were able to ease down in the final 500m as they won in a time of six minutes 23.19 seconds from lane two.
Germany looked impressive as they beat Lucerne World Cup winners Russia to win heat one in a time of 6mins 19.60secs.
In the men's quadruple sculls, Matt Langridge, Matthew Wells, Stephen Rowbotham and Alan Campbell claimed the third semi-final spot after coming home behind Slovenia and France in their heat.
The Britons went off too conservatively and reached the 500m mark in fourth position.
A determined final 1500m saw them overhaul the Ukrainians but a time of 5:51.03 was only good enough for third place, which was more than five seconds back on winners Slovenia.
The men's eight, with 2000 Olympic gold medallist Kieran West installed in the stroke seat, were well down on heat winners the USA.
They just lost out to Poland in the fight for third spot and will struggle to make the A final.
The women fared a little better in their heat and finished less than a length of clear water behind eventual winners Romania
The lightweight crews were also in action, with the men's coxless four finishing second to make their semi-final.
France dominated the race but the British four held off the challenge of the USA and the Netherlands.
Team manager David Tanner said: "That's as good a performance as I've seen from this team.
"We are looking to win four medals in the championships.
"Clearly our best chances are the men's quad and the women's four scull, but we're also looking at another couple of medals from the rest of the team."
The coxless pair also got through, but the women's light quad and both light doubles will race again on Wednesday.
MMIX
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We are looking to win four medals in the championships
