The New Zealand men's eight have taken the hard road into the Olympic final after winning the repechage in Tokyo this afternoon.
The Kiwi rowers started strong at the Sea Forest Waterway, sitting second behind Great Britain by just 1.22 seconds after 500 metres.
That gap closed to just 0.15s seconds by the halfway mark, before they edged ahead by 0.22 seconds with 500m to go.
Despite Great Britain's attempts to pull head again in the final leg, New Zealand held them off to win with a time of 5:22.04 - 1.28 seconds clear of the British boat.
The two crews, along with the United States and Australia, earned spots in the final where the Netherlands and Germany await them after qualifying previously.
The men's eight result brings to an end a mostly successful day for Kiwi rowers on the water after Brooke Donoghue and Hannah Osborne started the day with a silver medal in the women's double sculls.
That was followed up by a world record time by Grace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler in the women's pair semi-finals.
Earlier in the day, the men's double sculls and the women's quadruple sculls both finished second in their respective B finals while the men's pair bowed out of medal contention with a rough race in their semi.
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