Former Napier woman Emma Twigg is one step closer to the Olympic medal she's dreamed of after comfortably winning her women's single sculls semifinal on Thursday afternoon.
The 34-year-old took the win in a time of 7m 20.70s, more than five seconds ahead of the UK's Victoria Thornley who placed second at Tokyo's Sea Forest Waterway.
Twigg has previously won gold at the World Championships as a single sculler in 2014 but is making a tilt for her first Olympic medal.
Twigg has continued her quest for the elusive medal following two previous fourth-place finishes in her fourth Olympic Games.
The final is set to take place at 12.30pm (NZ time) tomorrow.