KEY POINTS:
So far, so good for New Zealand's crack Olympic rowing squad, but the temperature will go up from today.
As if the broiling climate at the Shunyi course an hour out of Beijing doesn't provide enough intensity, the bid to make the startline in the weekend's finals moves another step forward, with quarter-finals for world champion Mahe Drysdale and fellow single sculler Emma Twigg, and a repechage for coxless pair Nicky Coles and Juliette Haigh.
The quality of New Zealand's performance in Saturday's opening round of heats was hugely impressive.
And yesterday lightweight double Storm Uru and Peter Taylor rounded the heats stage nicely by advancing to their semifinal on Thursday with a convincing win in their heat, clocking 6:16.78 - over three seconds clear of French pair Maxime Goisset and Frederic Dufour.
The Kiwis were fifth fastest in their event overall, the sharpest form in yesterday's early heats coming from favourites Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter of Britain.
So, six wins and two seconds from eight starts.
The Kiwi record sounds a warning to their rivals. Rowers by nature don't get ahead of themselves, but the signs are undeniably promising for a bumper black-clad turnout in the finals in five days' time.
Coles and Haigh put on a strong performance in finishing second in their heat to the formidable Belarussians, clocking 7min 31.45s, 6.98s behind Yuliya Bichyk and Natallia Helakh. And they were delighted to have got to the end of the course unscathed. In Athens four years ago, a mid-race mishap had them in the drink and minutes away from being rubbed out of the regatta. They got their act together, clambered back into the boat and got to the finish, and made the final.
"This time [at Athens] we'd fallen out," Coles laughed.
"Before the race we thought we'd take a lot of pressure off knowing if we complete the race we're one step ahead of where we were four years ago," added Haigh.
"So it was satisfying to come through in the normal manner."
Since the Athens Olympics, they have been world champions and providing they maintain their good form through this week, should make it through to the final.
The women spoke of the interest in seeing how their rivals are shaping up. In the case of the Belarussians, their eyebrows were raised.
"At the Lucerne World Cup [in June] they didn't make the A final and they've just won here.
"That's a massive difference," Coles said.
Drysdale had the easiest day in the heats but expects things to move up a gear today. So what does a three-time world champion do to motivate himself when he's racing against athletes lucky to make the world top 20?
"It's up to you how you do it. If you want to work on something that's obviously a good time to do it. [For example] you may want to attack a certain part of the race."
Drysdale put himself under the hammer on his second day in Beijing, belting out a full-on 2000m.
"I wanted to put myself under pressure and see what I was going to feel like. It was hard and I struggled but every day as I've got acclimatised it's got easier and easier."
The New Zealanders have made extensive use of cooling vests, which they swear by. And, as Haigh put it, "once we're in a race you don't think about it [heat]".
Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell put the memory of a poor European campaign behind them with a crushing heat win to take Route One into their final; Rob Waddell and Nathan Cohen's sizzling last 500m did the trick in a race where they were under the pump for a time; and the world champion coxless four, who have battled this season, did a fine job in finishing second to the Netherlands quartet and were fourth fastest overall in 6:00.73.
It seems as though the twins and the four have put a grim period behind them and timed their run perfectly.
"It was good to put it all together on the day," Georgina Evers-Swindell said.
"We've always been good trainers but until you put it together on race day you can't really claim it."
They have the rest of the week to prepare for the final.
This is familiar, comfortable territory for the defending Olympic champions.
"It's a bit of deja vu from Athens. It's going to be a long week," she added.
Coming up today:
Quarter-finals: Mahe Drysdale and Emma Twigg (single scull, first three to semifinals)
Repechage: Nicky Coles and Juliette Haigh (coxless pair, first two straight to final)
Wednesday:
Semifinals: Drysdale and Twigg (providing they qualify from quarter-finals); Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater (coxless pair), Rob Waddell and Nathan Cohen (double scull), coxless four.
Video courtesy of Television New Zealand www.tvnz.co.nz/beijing2008
