Olympics rowing: Anna Watkins & Katherine Grainger smash record

Great Britain's Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins broke the Olympic record by nearly five seconds to book their place in the double sculls final. 

Three-time Olympic silver medallist Grainger and Watkins, who are unbeaten since they teamed up in 2010, won their heat in six minutes 44.33 seconds.

The British men's four won their heat to progress to Thursday's semi-finals.

And GB men's eight held off a fast-finishing Canada to win the repechage and qualify for Wednesday's final. 

Grainger, 36, and Watkins, 29, produced a superb display to win their 21st race in a row, and will be favourites to win gold in Friday's final at 10:30 BST.

The reigning world champions were quickly away and had opened up significant clear water by the 1,000m half-way point.

The British pair's time smashed the previous Olympic best set at the 1992 Barcelona Games by Germany.
And it was even more impressive given that they appeared to ease off in the final 500m before cruising across the line to the delight of the home crowd.

Grainger said: "I'm really pleased with our first event. You can hear the crowd but you feel it in your body, pulsing through you.

"We're very lucky to have this incredible support from around the country. It lifts you like nothing else.
"The plan for the next four days is feet up... not! We've got an adrenalin high now and we're both aware we can enjoy it for the next few hours, but we need to bring it back down.

"We'll head back to training and a dull lifestyle to get everything in place for Friday."

Their main rivals for gold, Brooke Pratley and Kim Crow of Australia, won their heat in a time four seconds slower than the Britons.

The British men's four - Pete Reed, Andy Triggs Hodge, Tom James and Alex Gregory - arrived at Eton Dorney on the back of defeats by Australia in the semi-finals and final of the last World Cup in Munich.

But they have appeared relaxed in the build-up to this event after a tough six-week training camp and sent out a message of intent with a strong opening heat. 

The British looked incredibly comfortable all the way through the race, clocking five minutes 50.27 seconds to win by just over a length.

Australia had earlier laid down the gauntlet by setting an Olympic best of five minutes 47.06 seconds - taking 1.4 seconds of the previous record set by Germany in Athens eight years ago - to progress.

The British men's eight - Alex Partridge, James Foad, Tom Ransley, Ric Egington, Moe Sbihi, Greg Searle, Matt Langridge, Constantine Louloudis and cox Phelan Hill - were disappointed with a bronze in the final World Cup meeting before the Games.

But the return of Louloudis, who missed the World Cup season with a back injury, inspired the crew to a strong second behind world champions Germany in the heats.

They made another step forward by dominating the repechage from the off, beating Olympic champions Canada and achieving a time which was just one second slower than the Germans' best at this regatta.
They will race for gold on Wednesday at 10:30 BST.

Britain's women's quad - Melanie Wilson, Debbie Flood, Frances Houghton and Beth Rodford - produced a brilliant fightback in the repechage to qualify for the final (Wednesday, 10:20 BST) in third place.

bbc