Cohen into rowing quarters

Southland's Nathan Cohen and his heavyweight doubles partner Matthew Trott have qualified for the quarter-finals at the world rowing championships.

Cohen and Trott finished third in their heat on day one of the championships yesterday morning (NZ time).

While the men's doubles crew managed third in their heat, the result was extremely promising as they eye later races at the meet, with pair third-fastest overall in the heats.

The top three in the New Zealanders' race were significantly ahead of the field and the finishing order was relatively unimportant as the crews save themselves for the big races later in the regatta.

While Cohen and Trott will be eyeing a possible medal at the world championships qualification for the Beijing Olympics will also be at the forefront of the pair's mind, although their early regatta success indicates it shouldn't be too much of a problem with the top 11 crews gaining automatic qualification for Beijing.

Cohen is joined by umpire Cliff Buchanan as the Southlanders involved in the world championships.

Te Anau-based Buchanan is attending his third world championship regatta and is a longtime member of the Invercargill Rowing Club.

He has umpired at national regattas for many years and was the chief umpire at this year's national championships on Lake Ruataniwha, near Twizel.

It was a good opening day overall for New Zealand crews at the world championships.

Two-time defending champion Mahe Drysdale led the way on the world-class Oberschleissheim course with a dominant fastest qualifying performance in the men's single sculls.

Drysdale, women's single sculler Emma Twigg and Cohen and Trott were the New Zealand crews to advance to today's quarter-finals, while five other New Zealand crews, competing in smaller fields, skipped straight to Thursday's semi-finals.

It wasn't a comfortable progression for Olympic champion women's double scullers Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell, who just held on to the second place they needed to reach the semis.

They were nearly caught out by the fast-finishing Czech Republic, who closed to within half a second at the finish, while British duo Elise Laverick and Anna Bebington won the heat by nearly 2sec.

The Waikato twins were smiling over the closing stages as they held out the Czechs, suggesting there is plenty of gas in the tank for Thursday's semi-finals.

- © Fairfax NZ News