Rowing: Germans Storm Through

Battle lines were drawn in the women's quadruple sculls yesterday when Britain won their heat convincingly but Germany stormed home in the other more than three seconds faster, beating the Russians who won seven weeks ago in the World Cup Series in Lucerne.

By winning, Britain qualify directly for Sunday's final in the world championships here in Japan and they are relishing the prospect. The German boat has been strengthened recently by the inclusion of the legendary Kathrin Boron, the world's most successful woman rower with 12 titles (four Olympic and eight world), and they have lost this event only once since its inception in 1985. They made the Russians look ordinary.

But the British crew are confident. "It's exciting to know I'll be in the three seat lining up right next to Boron," said Frances Houghton. "I'm looking forward to taking her out."

Katherine Grainger, Houghton, Sarah Winckless and Rebecca Romero, who all won Olympic medals, were more than a length clear at halfway and coasting at the end. "We've had time off the water because of the typhoon effect," said Grainger, "so it'll be nice now to have a few days where we can get down to doing stuff that makes us go fast."

The men's quad qualified in third place for the semi-finals, making heavy work for themselves with a sluggish start. This young combination, in their first year together, have been successful single scullers and are out to make their boat a medal contender in the 2008 Olympics. The lightweight four also reached the semi-finals.