Rowing: Campbell trails Drysdale into semis

Alan Campbell followed his Tideway Scullers club-mate Mahe Drysdale across the line in the quarter-final of the single sculls at the World Championships yesterday to secure his place in tomorrow's semi-finals.

Campbell beat Drysdale at Henley in July and the New Zealander, winner of the world title for the last two years, reversed this in Lucerne a week later. Campbell has matured in the way he races this year, not wasting energy on trying to master Drysdale when the first three to finish qualified.

All the rest of the top men – Olympic champion Olaf Tufte, the Czech Ondrej Synek, the Swede Lassi Karonen and the German maverick Marcel Hacker – came through without trouble.

Britain's Matt Wells and Stephen Rowbotham won a quarter-final of the double sculls, another event with a star-studded entry where the reigning world champions, Jean-Baptiste Macquet and Adrien Hardy of France, returned the fastest time.

Beth Rodford and Natasha Page won the pairs repêchage in a tight race for semi-final places, so all of Britain's Olympic class boats remain on target to qualify for Beijing next year.

Olympic qualification for the men's and women's eights, the men's quad and the lightweight women's double scullers is on the line in today's repêchages.

The lightweights Andrea Dennis and Alasdair Leighton-Crawford won their respective repêchages in single sculls.

Helene Raynsford won her repêchage of the arms-only single sculls after suffering an asthma attack during Monday's heat. A place in Saturday's final secures a place in next year's Paralympic Games in Beijing.

Karen Cromie and James Roberts qualified for the semi-finals of the trunk and arms mixed double sculls by winning their repêchage.