Rowing: Evers-Swindell twins compete for World Cup

Twins Georgina Evers-Swindell and Caroline Evers-Swindell will face each other in tonight’s Rowing World Cup final. File picture / Nigel Marple

The Evers-Swindell twins were among the seven New Zealand rowers who breezed through yesterday's races to qualify for today's finals at the Rowing World Cup in Munich.

However, the men's coxless fours failed to progress, despite taking an early lead.

Both Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell got off to a fast start in the women's single sculls. At the halfway point, Caroline had the lead over Georgina, but France's Sophie Balmary was making waves of her own behind.

At 1500m, Balmary slipped in between the twins to push Georgina into third.

The twins, best-known for their efforts together in the double sculls in which they won the Olympic Gold medal in Athens last year, will face each other in tonight's final (9.15pm NZT).

In the men's single sculls, New Zealand's Mahe Drysdale finished second, three seconds behind Germany's Marcel Hacker.

With Hacker leading from the start, Drysdale was busy working his way through from the back of the field with Vaclav Chalupa of the Czech Republic following suit.

Hacker, Drysdale and Chalupa will meet again in tonight's final (9.30pm).

Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater also breezed through in the men's coxless pairs, recording the fastest time by six seconds and will face Croatia and Germany in tonight's final (9.45pm NZT).

In the women's pairs, Athens Olympics pair Nicky Coles and Juliette Haigh qualified directly for the final (9pm NZT) after yesterday's heats.

In the men's coxless fours, the New Zealand crew -- Carl Meyer, Eric Murray, Steve Cottle and Donald Leach -- lead from the start, yet soon the Italian crew found the lead.

As New Zealand slipped back, Italy's No 2 crew charged through and heading for the line it was Italy one and two. The German under-23 crew also scored a berth in the final after sneaking past the New Zealanders in the final sprint.

- NZPA