The New Zealand Women's Eight including Wanganui exports Rebecca Scown and Kerri Gowler finished second in their five-boat heat to qualify for the final at the 2015 World Rowing Championships in Aiguebelette, France on Tuesday.
The crew, with Scown on stroke and Gowler in the No6 seat with her coxlesspairs partner Grace Prendergast right behind her, finished strongly over the 2000m to compete the course in 6m 3.65s, just behind the Canadian crew (6m 2.59s).
Sitting fourth at the 500m mark, the Kiwis pulled ahead of the Romanian, Australian and German crews, but could not quite reel in the Canadians before the finish.
The other heat was won by the United States crew in 5m59.58s, with the Netherlands in second, followed by the Great Britain and Russian teams.
The four boats from Heat 1 will now go through to the final with the Canadians and the New Zealanders, scheduled for Sunday afternoon, local time.
