The New Zealand men's and women's double sculls boats have navigated some troublesome waters in Tokyo to book spots in the semi-finals.
First up, the men's boat of Chris Harris and Jack Lopas fended off a challenge from Ireland in their heat to claim the final semi-final spot of their race.
Harris and Lopas got off to a strong start at the Se Forest Waterway in Tokyo this afternoon to lead Poland, Switzerland and Ireland at the 500m mark.
However, the Polish crew pushed ahead over the next 500 metres, leaving Harris and Lopas neck-and-neck with the two other crews for the second half of the race.
Switzerland made a move in the third 500m to take control of second, leaving Lopas and Harris to fight Ireland for third - and the final qualifying spot from their heat to reach the semi-finals.
While the two crews remained close for some time, Harris and Lopas managed to dig deep and get ahead of the Irish while also closing the distance on the two other boats.
In the end, the Kiwis finished just 0.83 seconds behind heat winners Poland and two seconds ahead of the Irish. Switzerland took second, finishing just 0.02 seconds behind Poland.
In the women's heat, Brooke Donoghue and Hannah Osborne overcame a tough start to win their heat in style.
Donoghue and Osborne were slow out of the blocks, starting the race from last place as they raced against USA, China, France and the Czech Republic.
By the first 500m mark, they had managed to claw back the USA and Czech Republic but still had a second to find in order to catch the leading French boat.
They did just that and more in the second 500m, surging ahead of the field to be in front of second-placed France by 1.39 seconds with the second half of the race to go.
That lead only grew in the third quarter of the race as Donoghue and Osborne put 3.27 seconds on the late-challenging USA, who had moved up into second.
The USA managed to shave off a second of that lead in the final 500m but it wasn't enough to catch the Kiwis who finished with a time of 6:53.62.
The result means New Zealand has qualified four of four boats today single scullers Emma Twigg and Jordan Parry qualified in their heats earlier.
The remaining Kiwi crew racing today is the women's quad.
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