"The boat felt very good and very relaxed which is a good thing. We had an awesome start and sat comfortably in second with Ukraine sitting just in front."
Ukraine settled into the race, rating 34 with New Zealand chasing hard, with the United States and Switzerland following just behind, matching each other stroke-for-stroke. New Zealand then got their nose in front of Ukraine going through the middle of the race.
"We stayed relaxed and kept on doing what we do and eventually pushed in front of them and led easily for the last 600m."
Ukraine and New Zealand looked relaxed compared to the battle taking place behind them between Switzerland and the United States. Norway then did a huge power piece and came back into the race.
It was effective and got them into third, but New Zealand and Ukraine remain the qualifying boats. The first two crews automatically went through to today's semifinals.
It's a great result for the New Zealanders who had to adjust to competing in a new boat.
Francis said before the race he was happy with the speed of the boat and was confident the team could do well.
"If we can keep relaxed and push ourselves a bit more, we should do well."
In the other heats, Great Britain had the lead in the early stages of heat two but it was tight with only two seconds separating the entire field. The tightness gave Australia the chance they were looking for and they got their nose in front of the British with Poland and Belarus fighting it out for third. As the race progressed Australia's confidence grew and they managed to get a couple of seconds over Great Britain. Then it was Great Britain under threat from Belarus who had managed to move away from Poland. At the line Australia was still in first with Great Britain pulling out a great sprint to hold off Belarus and hold on to the second qualifying spot.
Heat three had to wait a few minutes due to a small change in the race schedule but it did not seem to deter the Czech Republic or Estonia. By the middle of the race the Czechs, who were silver medallists last year in this event, had got into the lead. Estonia, however, were not giving up and they hung relentlessly on to the Czechs. The Czech Republic had more stamina and they managed to cross the line a good three seconds ahead of Estonia. The Czech Republic and Estonia are the two qualifying boats.
Heat four saw Italy, who were fifth in 2011, grab the early lead. France and Russia followed closely. But as Russia began to slow, France started to pull in the Italians. Both France and Italy rated 36 throughout. However, Italy's experience won through and they crossed the line ahead of the French.
The other New Zealand crews to perform at the champs were Abbey Green, Georgia Perry, Grace Prendergast and Robyn Munro in the women's four. The crew led all the way in their repechage, their impressive six-second winning margin over the US marked them as dark horses for the final. The women's quadruple scull of Olivia Loe, Genevieve Behrent, Lucy Spoors and Linda Matthews delivered the same result in their repechage, getting their noses ahead in the second 500m and holding on. They finished ahead of Romania, Russia, France and Switzerland to qualify directly for the final.
Nathan Flannery and Hayden Cohen (brother of elite world champion Nathan) were comfortable winners of their heat and moved to the semifinals of the men's double sculls and the lightweight women's double scull of Georgia Hammond and Sophie Mackenzie also progressed to the semifinals with a heat win.
The men's lightweight four sneaked into their semifinal with a third place in their heat behind Poland and Austria. Finian Scott, Adam Ling, James Hunter and Toby Cunliffe-Steel were comfortably ahead of the Canadians in fourth and will be looking to step up a gear in the semifinal to secure a final spot.
Men's quadruple sculls
Heat 1: NZL 5:55.07, 1; UKR 5:56.73, 2; NOR 6:02.63, 3; SUI 6:03.84, 4; USA 6:04.97, 5.
Heat 2: AUS 5:53.74, 1; GBR 5:55.21, 2; BLR 5:57.11, 3; POL 6:01.19, 4; HUN 6:01.24, 5.
Heat 3: CZE 5:52.92, 1; EST 5:55.49, 2; ROU 6:00.73, 3; AUT 6:06.84, 4; LAT 6:11.89, 5.
Heat 4: ITA 5:49.99, 1; FRA 5:51.47, 2; GER 5:54.18, 3; RUS 6:01.55, 4.
