Rio 2016 Olympics - New Zealand world champion lightweight doubles sculls crew Sophie McKenzie and Julia Edward are through to the semi-finals.
Sophie Mackenzie, right, and Julia Edward finished second in their heat. Photo: AFP
The pair finished well behind a Dutch crew but Edwards was positive about the outcome.
"We're really happy with the rhythm that we got throughout the race. The first race, the legs felt really fresh going into the race."
They had no problems as a result of the second day of rowing called off yesterday because of rough conditions.
"Yesterday being called off just made us a little more excited," said Edwards. "We coped really well. A lot of crews were really antsy but we just plugged in our headphones and pretended it was the day before our race again."
Women's pair Rebecca Scown and Genevieve Behrent won their heat to make the semi-finals.
New Zealand's women's eight rowers came second in their heat on the third day of Rio Photo: AFP
Rebecca Scown also rowed with the womens eight, who were second in their heat behind Great Britain and with only the winners qualifying for the final, they will now contest a repechage.
They led for much of the heat, but were overtaken by Great Britain in the final 500m, with Canada coming in third.
The New Zealanders recorded the third fastest time.
"I think it was a good first performance," said crew member Grace Prendergast.
"We'd have liked to come across the line first and straight to the final but come the end of the week another race in the middle of the week might not be a bad thing.
"We definitely knew [Great Britain] would be very strong, we definitely didn't underestimate them. They're very strong in the last 500m."
We are excited to be the first NZ W8 but we are not just here to compete, we want to make history by winning - Grace pic.twitter.com/WD61NCGaCW
— NZ Olympic Team (@nzolympics) August 8, 2016
The men's eight were third in their heat and go to a repechage.
Great Britain led early in the men's heat, with New Zealand second, ahead of the the Netherlands over the first 1000m.
However, the Dutch edged them out leaving New Zealand in third, with Italy coming in last.
The New Zealand quad team in the the first day of racing during the weekend in Rio. Photo: AFP
The men's quadruple sculls - the 11th New Zealand crew to be added to the Olympic squad after a Russian athlete failed a doping test - finished sixth in their repechage and will now contest the B final.
