New Zealand's crews have a rest day today and the only one still looking to move forward are the women's double of Fiona Bourke and Zoe Stevenson, who finished second in their heat, in a discipline where only the heat winners automatically progressed to the semifinals.
The New Zealanders were beaten into second by China's Weiwei Zhu and Yuwei Wang, having recorded 7min 03.300s, two and a half seconds slower than the Chinese.
They should, however, make it a full hand of crews still alive when the next stage of racing begins tonight (NZT).
Eight crews progressed on the opening day of heats, with four more moving through yesterday.
They included the formidable men's pair of Eric Murray and Hamish Bond, who are doubling up events at this championship. Unbeatable for six years in their specialist event, the men have teamed up with cox Caleb Shepherd for the non-Olympic coxed pair.
There was a strong performance from brothers Karl and Robbie Manson in the double scull, where they won their heat in 6:20.770 to move into their semifinal.
They crossed 3s ahead of Lithuania in the second-fastest time overall from the heats, behind the strong German combination of Stephane Krueger and Hans Gruhne. The women's four of Kerri Gowler, Grace Prendergast, Kelsey Bevan and Kayla Pratt won their heat in 6:46.420 to go directly into the final.
The lightweight men's four of James Hunter, Peter Taylor, James Lassche and Curtis Rapley were second in their heat in 6:17.960, 2s slower than Austria, but enough to move into the semifinals.
- By David Leggat of the NZ Herald
