New Zealand rower Mahe Drysdale has overcome a back injury to reach the finals of the prestigious Henley Regatta in England.
The four-time world champion beat Canada's Malcolm Howard with plenty of pace in the second half of the race, despite his lack of intensive training in recent weeks.
Drysdale suffered a small tear in a lower spinal disc in March and sat out the first two rounds of the World Cup series at Bled, Slovakia, last month and Munich, Germany on June 20.
He would meet Sweden's Lassi Karonen in the Diamond Sculls final on Sunday afternoon (11.10am Monday NZT).
The New Zealand men's eight beat the Bled regatta-winning British team to set up a final on Sunday against world champs Germany.
The crew put the British under pressure from the start, with a time to the first checkpoint equalling the course record.
They stormed home in six minutes and one second -- the second fastest time recorded in the regatta's 161 years and just seconds shy of the 1989 record set by the German Hansa Dortmund national squad crew.
Men's pair Eric Murray and Hamish Bond made their second consecutive open pairs final after defeating the crew from Leander, west of London.
The duo would now face Britons Andrew Triggs Hodge and Peter Reed in the final.
The New Zealand women's quad team of Louise Trappitt, Emma Feathery, Paula Twining and Fi Paterson downed the Dutch women's crew, setting up a final against their British counterparts who had dominated the World Cup regattas so far.
New Zealand senior eight champions West End Rowing Club knocked out US club champs Potomac to set up a final against British crew 1892.
Meanwhile, double sculls pair Storm Uru and Peter Taylor and the quad team of Nathan Twaddle, John Storey, Paul Gerritsen and Matthew Trott have been knocked out of the Henley Regatta.
The World Cup series would continue in Lucerne, Switzerland from July 9.
