Women's rowing eight survive scare to secure spot in final

The New Zealand women's eight rowing crew have fought off an early scare in their heat to secure a direct spot in the final at the Tokyo Olympics.

The gold medal favourites had to dig deep to overcome an early deficit as China and Canada burst out of the gate quickly.

The Kiwis found themselves a boat length behind with work to do in the second-half of the race. It was tough work for the likes of Grace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler, who had already competed in the pair earlier in the morning.

But the world champions fought back admirably, gritting their teeth to snatch a 0.32 second victory over Canada and a direct entry into the final on Friday.

The men's eight finished second in their heat and will need to go through the repechage scheduled for Wednesday.

The men were chasing the Netherlands the whole way and were just unable to overcome them despite a strong sprint finish.

The Kiwis finished 1.45 seconds behind the Dutch to finish in second place, 2.29 seconds ahead of Great Britain.

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