Searle's GB men's eight win gold

International Rowing 2010
World Cup - BledHighlights on iPlayer until 7 June
World Cup - Munich 18-20 June, World Cup - Lucerne 9-11 July, World Championships - New Zealand 31 Oct-7 Nov

Greg Searle won his first international medal for 10 years as the men's eight won one of six golds for Great Britain in the World Cup opener in Slovenia.

It was an ideal first step for Searle, Olympic champion in 1992, who is aiming to win gold in 2012 when he will be 40.

Scot Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins won two medals each, in the double and quadruple sculls.

And there were also victories in Bled for a new-look men's double, men's coxless four and women's eight.

Searle, who last appeared for Great Britain at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and decided last October to make a comeback, sat in the key six seat of a crew featuring members who were four years old when he won his Olympic gold.

Peter Reed joined him as a last-minute injury substitute in the eight, which surged past 2009 world bronze-medallists the Netherlands in the final 500m to win by a third of a length.

COMMENTATOR'S VIEW I would back Greg 100% - psychologically he's there, technically he's there, he's got the drive back, he's put everything into place Garry Herbert Coxed Searle to gold in 1992

But Reed and Andy Hodge could not clinch gold in GB's flagship boat, the men's pair, as they were beaten by nemeses New Zealand.

There were also silver medals for the lightweight women's double, lightweight men's four and single sculler Alan Campbell in the first of three World Cup events this season.

Grainger, rowing with Watkins in the double scull for the first time, gained a measure of revenge over Liang Tian and Yangyang Zhang, two of the Chinese crew who beat her to Olympic gold in Beijing, with a dominant performance.

Grainger leads GB quad to World Cup gold

Just over an hour later, and joined by Beth Rodford and Annabel Vernon in the quad, the duo were assured in beating 2009 world champions Ukraine by a length.

Grainger, who is bidding to follow three successive Olympic silver medals with gold in 2012, is likely to focus on the double with Watkins for the rest of the season.

"It was the ideal result for the whole day. It was a really classy row in both events," said Grainger, 34.

"We took control of both races from the start. It's probably never been such an assured day of racing."

Great Britain's only defending world champions, Alex Partridge, Richard Egington, Alex Gregory and Matt Langridge, began the season in fine style, with only a young Serbian crew posing any opposition.

The challenge is likely to get harder when more countries join the international circuit later in the season, including 2009 world silver medallists Australia.

There was a surprise in the men's double sculls, firstly in the dominance of Olympic bronze medallist Matthew Wells with new partner Marcus Bateman, who led from the start.

GB men win gold and silver in double sculls

But there was also a strong showing from Bill Lucas and Sam Townsend, who will move into the quad when their crew-mates return from injury later in the season, to grab second spot.

"The one-two in the men's double scull was the most exciting moment of the day, undoubtedly", said GB performance director David Tanner.

The win for GB's women's eight was also an upset, a young line-up holding off the Netherlands, who took world bronze last year, to take victory by half a length.

Four of the line-up had taken part in the women's pairs final earlier in the day, finishing fifth and sixth, with top crew Olivia Whitlam and Louisa Reeve fading after a strong first half.

Hodge and Reed beaten by New Zealand

There was some disappointment for Reed and Hodge, again behind Kiwis Eric Murray and Hamish Bond, who beat them for the seventh time, including the world final in Poland last year.

But the GB duo were strong in the latter stages of the first international final of the season, coming back from a length down with 500m to go to halve that distance to 1.22 sec.

"These guys are very strong, we know that, but every stroke now is an opportunity to improve. We want to get stronger in the water," said Hodge.

They have reason to be optimistic that they can narrow the gap further in the five months before the World Championships begin in Karipiro, New Zealand.

Single sculler Campbell, from Coleraine, struggled with the pace set by Czech Olympic silver medallist Ondrej Synek, who he has beaten regularly in the last two years.

Campbell - back after a mountain bike crash in South Africa in January, which saw him hospitalised and temporarily blinded - stopped just before the line and was fortunate to hold off German veteran Marcel Hacker.

COMMENTATOR'S VIEW It's a very strong team in depth; now it's about how they manage the next few months leading up to the World Championships in New Zealand in November Dan Topolski

GB's lightweight new men's four combination of Richard Chambers, Paul Mattick, Rob Williams and Chris Bartley just lost out in a thrilling battle with 2009 world silver medallists Denmark, who lifted their stroke rate over a blistering 45 per minute.

There was silver for lightweight women's double Hester Goodsell and Sophie Hosking but the 2009 world bronze medallists were well behind a new American double of Abelyn Broughton and Ursula Grobler.

On Saturday, Zac Purchase extended his unbeaten run to 16 races on his return from a year out through illness, dominating the men's lightweight single sculls.

Purchase will be back with Olympic doubles partner Mark Hunter for the next World Cup event in Munich from 18-20 June, as Hunter recovers from a back problem.

The men's eight is also likely to be rejigged for Munich, with Olympic gold medallist Tom James among those expected to return from injury to challenge Searle for his place.

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