By Martin Gough
BBC Sport at Eton |
Six of seven GB semi-finalists on Thursday qualified for their finals, the four the fastest in their category.
The main disappointment was the women's eight, which finished third in its rescheduled repechage race.
Sculler Allan Campbell, the men's and women's double sculls and lightweight sculler Zac Purchase all progressed.
But lightweight sculler Antonia van Deventer was last in her semi-final, failing to build on an impressive repechage.
The men's coxless four of Steve Williams, Peter Reed, Alex Partridge and Andy Hodge proved they deserved the tag of favourites, surviving a late burst to beat Germany in five minutes 49.94 secs.
But the highly-touted Campbell survived a fright and needed a late surge to beat Cuban Yoennis Hernandez Arruez to third, becoming the slowest qualifier for the final.
In rough water with a raging tail wind, the pair of Tom James and Colin Smith showed the experienced gained rowing in rival crews in the Oxford/Cambridge Boat Race.
 | We didn't put together our best race in the heat - we had a lot of problems with the crab and everything else |
While the Italian and Australian crews both hit waves and missed strokes, the Great Britain duo lifted their rate to secure second place.
GB double Matthew Wells and Stephen Rowbotham were three seconds behind the world champion Slovenians but crucially just ahead of Norway, in third place.
Their female counterparts Annie Vernon and Anna Bebington also got through half a length in front of France but face a challenge to gain a medal as the slowest qualifiers.
Purchase must be a favourite for gold on Saturday as he was faster than any rival.
The Gloucestershire sculler was cautious, though, saying: "No-one has won any medals, so it's all down to what we do in the 48 hours before the final."
The women's eight, who took bronze in the Poland World Cup event in June, were forced into the repechage after losing a blade in their heat.
"There's a big step from racing the World Cup and the World Championships," said stroke Elise Laverick.
"We didn't put together our best race in the heat - we had a lot of problems with the crab and everything else.
"It was hard to turn around from that and, although we all felt positive, when we were out there the inexperience started to show."
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