The men's coxless four erased some of the pain of coming fourth in last year's World Championships by winning their heat in the World Cup in Munich on Thursday. The crew of Andrew Triggs-Hodge, Peter Reed, Steve Williams and Tom Lucy, the latter taking the place of the injured Tom James, led from start to finish to qualify for Saturday's semi-finals with the second-fastest time in the heats.

The four's win came immediately after Steve Rowbotham and Matt Wells had won their heat in the men's double sculls. It was a real battle for the two, who like the four had come fourth in the World Championships at the Munich venue. They were in last place after 500 metres, but worked their way through the field to take one of the two qualifying slots in a slow time.

There was more back-to-back success an hour and a half later when the lightweight men's double scull of Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase won their heat to qualify for Friday's quarter-finals and the lightweight men's four won the first heat of their class.

Alan Campbell won heat 3 of the single scull in the morning, recording the third-fastest time of the nine men to qualify directly for the semi-finals. Anna Bebington, in the women's single scull, came only fourth in her heat but qualified for the quarter-finals as one of the fastest losers.

Both the British entries in the lightweight women's double will have to qualify for the semi-finals through a repechage, while the same fate awaits Sarah Winckless and Elise Laverick in the heavyweight women's double after they surprisingly came only third in their heat, behind China's second boat.

How the Chinese fare this season in the run-up to the Olympics in Beijing is one of the intriguing sub-plots. Based on today's early results, they will have a strong squad. Two of their crews qualified for the semi-finals of both the women's coxless pair and women's double scull and they won their heats in the lightweight women's double scull, women's single scull, lightweight men's four and lightweight men's double scull.

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