Rowing: Rotorua rowers move into finals at U23 Worlds

Rotorua rower Claudia Hyde has qualified for the A Final with her New Zealand quad team at the 2013 Under-23 World Rowing Championships.

Rotorua's Jeff Francis is also competing at the U23 world champs in Austria, which started on Wednesday, and has qualified for the semi-finals in the men's quad event.

Hyde's New Zealand U23 quad team placed fourth in their heat on Wednesday before storming back into contention for the A Final with a first place effort in the repechage on Thursday.

The repechage is a second chance race for teams who finish outside the top two in the heats.

Hyde's team got off to a great start in the repechage, recording a speed of 44 strokes per minute across the first 50m.

The New Zealand women's quad held on to win the 2000m race, almost two seconds ahead of Romania.

The women's quad, which includes Hyde (Rotorua RC, Waikato RPC), Hannah Osborne (Waikato RPC, Te Awamutu RC), Allie Smith (Waikato RPC, Waikato RC) and Olivia Loe (Southern RPC, Avon RC), will race in the A Final tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Francis and the New Zealand U23 men's quad finished second during their heat on Wednesday and have qualified for Semifinal B today.

Racing in lane six, they finished two seconds behind Switzerland in the heats.

The 2013 Under-23 World Rowing Championships run until late Sunday night (NZT).

Races are being held at the Linz-Ottensheim course in Austria.