Rowers hit form on way to London

The lightweight coxless four finished first in the B final. Photo / Christine Cornege

New Zealand's lightweight coxless four crew, making a late run for an Olympic spot in London, ended their opening World Cup regatta on a winning note.

The four of Duncan Grant, Graham Oberlin-Brown, James Lassche and stroke Curtis Rapley had missed a place in the A final of the first World Cup regatta of the season in Belgrade, but did the next best thing last night by winning the B final.

Their aim is to finish in the top two at the final regatta offering entry to the London Games in July, which is at Lucerne, starting on May 25.

In the final, they led all the way to win in 5min 59.78s, well clear of Russia, who clocked 6:05.31, and China, who took third in 6:06.75.

The quartet had finished third in their repechage, from which only the first two crews made the A final, to be contested later last night.

"We've learned that at our best we are up with the best crews in the lightweight four field," Grant, a three-time winner of the world lightweight single scull title, said.

"That's a real positive for us and even though we are all disappointed at not making the A final we definitely feel that we are tracking well for the qualification regatta."

The news was not so good, however, for the other New Zealand crew with Olympic ambitions, the men's eight.

The eight finished fifth and last in their repechage in a race in which the first four advanced to the final.

New Zealand were third at the 500m mark before drifting back to finish 1.76s behind fourth-placed Ukraine.

The eight's job is tougher than the lightweight four's, they must win the Lucerne event to progress to London. Right now that's looking a tall order.

The only other New Zealand crew in Belgrade, the heavyweight coxless four, had a poor day. New Zealand has already qualified for the Games in the discipline, but could do no better than fifth in the B final last night.

In the B final New Zealand managed 6:01.00 - having been an encouraging third at the 1500m mark - to finish behind Romania (5:57.79), Russia, Germany and Italy.

Those three crews will be joined by the remainder of New Zealand's Olympic-bound crews for the Lucerne regatta.

New Zealand have 11 crews confirmed for London.