Rowing: Five NZ crews through to semis

Five of the six New Zealand crews in action on the first day of the world rowing championships in Eton, England, qualified for the semifinals last night (NZ time).

The only exceptions were women's pair Juliette Haigh and Nicky Coles, the defending champions, who will need to qualify through tomorrow's repechages.

They were beaten by German pair Nicole Zimmerman and Elke Hipler, with the United States third.

Germany won the heat in seven minutes 00.93 seconds, with the New Zealanders next best of six crews in 7min 03.15sec.

World champion single sculler Mahe Drysdale, lightweight single sculler Duncan Grant, multiple world champion double scullers Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell and the men's coxless four -- Eric Murray, Selwyn Cleland, Carl Meyer and Hamish Bond -- won their heats to qualify directly for Thursday's semifinals.

The men's four were up against an extremely tough field, including crews from Canada, Australia and Germany.

They showed improvement on their bronze-medal effort at the Poznan World Cup two months ago when they came from a length behind at halfway to fly past the Canadians and hold off a fast-finishing German combination to win.

Grant, from Wairau in Marlborough, gave the New Zealand campaign an impressive start at the cold, showery Dorney Lake.

A late addition to the team after proving his capabilities during the winter series in New Zealand, he made a slow start.

He pushed through the middle 500m to take the lead from the Netherlands' Gerard van der Linden and though the Dutchman came back, Grant responded with a fine surge to win in 7min 00.36sec.

Van der Linden clocked 7min 00.43sec.

Grant will contest Thursday's semifinals and from the heat times it appears his main competition will come from Great Britain's Zac Purchase, Elias Pappas of Greece, and van der Linden.

Defending world champion Drysdale was all class.

He opened a commanding lead over Sweden's Lassi Karonen by halfway and paced himself perfectly to cruise across the line first in 6min 50.64sec.

Drysdale was almost 5sec clear of Karonen at the finish.

There was high interest in him as he had spent time training in England with Great Britain's top single sculler Alan Campbell, who had gear failure early in his race.

Drysdale's biggest rival is Olympic champion Olaf Tufte, of Norway. Tufte looked impressive in winning his heat easily.

Bridgewater and Twaddle, also reigning champions and 2005 Halberg Awards team of the year, made it look easy.

From the favoured middle lane, the strongmen of New Zealand rowing held a half length lead over Canada and Germany at the half way.

With 500m to go Bridgewater and Twaddle rated an easy 36 strokes per minute to hold off the fast-finishing Canadians and win in 6min 22.79sec.

They will have their work cut out against the impressive Australians, Drew Ginn and Duncan Free, who won their heat comfortably.

New Zealand's flagship crew, the Evers-Swindells, look set to win their fourth world title in the woman's double sculls.

They weren't troubled over their 2000m race after setting off with their trademark power start.

The twins established a two-length lead over Germany by the 1000m mark and held that lead through to the finish.

- NZPA