Grainger and Watkins win heat in Olympic Best Time
30th July 2012Britain made four starts at Eton-Dorney today and all four boats moved to the next round - three with relative ease, one with a big dose of drama en route.
Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins, in the women's double scull, and the men's four made it all look easy. They won their heats by considerable margins, leading from the front from the outset.
Grainger and Watkins, who recorded an Olympic best time of 6:44.33, are now through to a final on Friday and the men's four of Andrew Triggs Hodge, Tom James, Peter Reed and Alex Gregory will race a semi-final on Thursday.
"Part of me thought it would be good to see how fast we could go today and we certainly have more but the final is the big one. No-one will remember on Friday who won the heat. It's a new job on
Friday to do", said Grainger.
"Today was a wonderful bonus and a fantastic confidence boost that we are on absolutely on track", added Watkins.
Team GB's men's eight were winners of a sparkling repechage in which the home combination produced a strong first half and then controlled the race to win in 5:26.85. Their final is on Wednesday.
The women's quadruple scull of Beth Rodford, Melanie Wilson, Frances Houghton and Debbie Flood hauled themselves back from sixth place at halfway to qualify for Wednesday's final in third place, with only four progressing.
GB Rowing Team Performance Director David Tanner said: "We've had an excellent day today with the men's four and the women's double showing their standard in winning their heats and the men's eight and women's quad both qualifying for their A finals through the repechage.
"With all the heats completed we have placed ourselves in a strong position to step through the next rounds and gain more A final places in the next few days".
Tomorrow's race programme sees semi-finals for the men's double scull and lightweight men's four whilst the women's eight will race a repechage in which four places for the final will be up for grabs.