Grant first Kiwi to win at Word Cup regatta

Lightweight sculler Duncan Grant has picked up New Zealand's first win at the World Cup rowing regatta in Germany today.

The two-time world champion maintained his excellent heat and semifinals form in Munich to win his final in seven minutes 6.35 seconds, well clear of second-placed Czech Ondrej Luzek's 7min 8.43sec.

Third place went to German Adam Freeman-Pask in 7min 8.91sec.

Grant had posted a time of 7min 1.08sec to win his heat before cruising through to take his semifinal in 7min 12.64sec, the second fastest time overall behind Japan's Daisaku Takeda.

Grant was the first of nine out of 11 New Zealand crews to make the A finals, the remainder of which will be contested on the final day of competition tomorrow (NZT).

Men's pair Eric Murray and Hamish Bond inflicted something of a shock defeat on the top British crew today, upping the tempo in their heat over the last 500m to win in 6min 24.55sec, nearly three seconds clear of Peter Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge.

Beijing Olympic bronze medallist Mahe Drysdale had a surprisingly routine passage to the A final of the men's single sculls.

Drysdale led comfortably throughout and did not experience any threat from Olympic champion Olaf Tufte, who looked a little out of sorts.

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.