Olympics: Hit and miss for Kiwi rowers

Suddenly nothing looks guaranteed for New Zealand's Olympic rowers. Three of the five crews on the Shunyi course today qualified for Saturday's finals but the air of authority that has followed them all week was absent in semifinal action today.

Needing a top-three finish to advance, there were varying degrees of difficulty for those who achieved it, with triple single sculls world champion Mahe Drysdale surprisingly unconvincing.

The world champion men's four and women's single sculler Emma Twigg were the crews to miss out, ruining New Zealand's chances of eight crews from eight reaching the finals.

They will still have at least a New Zealand record five there, including two boats who have already qualified - women's pair Nicky Coles and Juliette Haigh and women's double sculling sisters Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell.

They could be joined by lightweight double scullers Storm Uru and Peter Taylor, who race their semi tomorrow.

Today's biggest shock was the struggles of Drysdale, who managed only third and was very nearly sent packing in dramatic circumstances.

The 29-year-old lost a race-long duel for the lead with Czech rival Ondrej Synek before tying up badly over the final 250m, where he was passed by Briton Alan Campbell and very nearly by Greek surprise packet Ioannis Christou.

The fast-finishing Christou came within 0.45 seconds of what would have been an enormous upset.

Drysdale was well beaten by Synek, the man he labelled as his biggest threat pre-regatta.

The men's pair of Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater chugged into second place, well behind the relatively-unheralded Canadian crew.

A good second half to the race ensured they finished clear of South Africa and the Czech Republic but there was little more than a boat length in it.

It leaves Australian rivals Drew Ginn and Duncan Free as even firmer favourites for gold after they cruised to victory in the other semi.

Third was the best men's double scull Rob Waddell and Nathan Cohen could manage, beaten home by an impressive Australia and Slovenia.

By holding out the fast finishing Croatian double, Waddell will line up in his first Olympic final since his singles triumph at the Sydney Games in 2000.

Like Drysdale, the double will start in an unfamiliar outside lane on Saturday.

There was massive disappointment for the men's four of Carl Meyer, James Dallinger, Eric Murray and Hamish Bond, who were squeezed into fourth in an excrutiatingly-close race.

The four who famously rowed from last to first over the final 1000m at last year's world championships in Munich lifted over the final stages but were pipped by Great Britain, Australia and France.

Twigg missed out in even more heartbreaking fashion, pipped on the finish line for third place by Poland's Julia Michalska.

The 21-year-old sat comfortably in third place for most of the journey but couldn't withstand a withering surge from the Polish world under-23 champion, who just scraped past her in the last 100m. The time difference between them was 0.05 seconds.

The race was won by gold medal favourite Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus from Bulgarian Rumyana Neykova.