Guided by two-time Boat Race-winning cox Acer Nethercott, the GB eight came second in their semi-final to qualify.

Britain's Jane Hall and Helen Casey edged into the lightweight women's double sculls final.

And Chris Bartley and Richard Chambers were the third-fastest qualifiers for the lightweight men's pair final.

Britain's men's lightweight four will also be in the medal mix-up at Dorney Lake after easing into their final as the second-fastest qualifiers in a time of 6mins 10.74secs.

The British team of Matt Beechey, Daniel Harte, Paul Mattick and stroke James Clarke posted the quickest split in the final 500m but could not overhaul a powerful French quartet, who will start Sunday's final as favourites.

But there was disappointment for James Lindsay-Flynn and Mark Hunter, who will have to race the B final after finishing just outside the top two in the lightweight double sculls semi-finals.

The British duo looked set to qualify until a late surge from Poland's Tomasz Kucharski and Robert Sycz meant they missed out by two-tenths of a second.

The men's eight, which included 2000 Olympic gold medallist Kieran West, finished their semi-final in a time of 5:49.90.

Their qualification for the final came after the GB women's eight were surprisingly eliminated on Thursday.