Rowing: Quadruple sculls through to semis

8.00am

Defending double sculls champions Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell continued their strong form at the world rowing championships in Milan, Italy, today.

The twins combined with Paula Twining and Joanne Byrne to finish second in their women's quadruple sculls heat in a time of six minutes 37.76 seconds, less than 3sec behind the winning Bulgarian crew.

They will contest the semifinals later this week.

The New Zealanders started conservatively, making sure they stayed in touch with race leaders Bulgaria and the United States.

They appeared to gain confidence as the race progressed and finished strongly, moving past the US boat and putting pressure on the Bulgarians.

Conditions were slightly cooler on the second day of the championships, but temperatures were still in the early 30degC, after light overnight rain.

Wind conditions were fickle, with the majority of races into a slight headwind.

Two other New Zealand crews took to the water today for their preliminary heats.

The men's coxed four -- Eric Murray, Gary Roberts, Steven Cottle, Grant Carroll and cox James Barrett -- started well, coming through the first quarter of their race equal with the leading crews.

But they weren't able to respond to the relentless pressure of the US, the eventual winners, finishing third in 6min 19.83sec, 7sec behind the Americans and 5sec behind second-placed Germany.

The New Zealand team recorded the fifth fastest time of the day, and move through to the repechage.

"This was the first full international race for all the members of this crew and they responded pretty well," coxed four coach Ian Wright said.

"We are planning to use the repechage to get a bit more sharpness in our racing and set ourselves up for a big race in the final."

Cottle, who turned 19 two days ago, is one of the youngest rowers to represent New Zealand at the world championships.

He was called into the coxed four just three weeks ago to replace an injured George Bridgewater, shortly after returning home from the under-23 world championships in Yugoslavia.

New Zealand lightweight men's double scullers Duncan Grant and Nathan Terrey started strongly in their heat, sitting third behind Poland and Germany at the halfway mark.

A strong third quarter moved the New Zealanders into second place which they held, recording a time of 6min 37.57sec, less than 3sec seconds behind the victorious Germans.

However, they recorded the ninth fastest time and will race in tomorrow's repechages.

Other New Zealand crews in action in the repechages tomorrow include the men's coxless pair of Rob Helstrom and Nathan Twaddle, the men's coxless four of Mahe Drysdale, Carl Meyer, Donald Leach, and Ian Smallman, the men's lightweight double scull of Duncan Grant and Nathan Terrey, the women's coxless pair of Kate Robinson and Jackie Abraham and women's single sculler Sonia Waddell.

- NZPA