Grant first Kiwi to win at Word Cup regatta

Drysdale's semifinal-winning time of 6min 58.90sec was nearly four seconds clear of Tufte, with Switzerland's Andre Vornaburg third.

Those three will be joined in the final by Briton Alan Campbell, the winner of the first World Cup regatta in Banyoles in Spain, and the Czech Republic's Ondrej Synek. Mindaugas Griskonis, of Lithuania, in his first major A final, completes the field.

In the men's double, Matthew Trott and Nathan Cohen sealed their place in the A final by winning their semifinal in 6min 26.22sec over highly rated Germans Tim Bartels and Mathias Rocher.

The New Zealanders maintained a lead of about a length throughout after a quick first 500m.

Emma Twigg was less than one second behind Great Britain's Katherine Grainger in the women's single sculls semifinal, her time of 7min 43.66sec being the third fastest overall.

Others to progress through to A finals include Rebecca Scown and Emma Feathery in the women's pair, Matthew Trott and Nathan Cohen in the men's double and Storm Uru and Peter Taylor in the lightweight double sculls.

New Zealanders Genevieve Armstrong, Louise Trappitt, Sarah Barnes and Harriet Austin will also contest a straight final in the women's quad tomorrow.

Adaptive athlete Robin Tinga finished fourth in the single sculls in his first international regatta. Adaptive rowing is a category for competitors with physical disabilities.